Soul Eater 2
by Kishen Grim Camalot
Summary: The miesters and weapons of the DWMA face a new adventure. New friends. Old enemies. Old friends. New enemies. A tale of romance, passion, and two murders most fowl. Evil, teams with good. Brothers fight together. And Crona becomes more powerful then anyone ever expects.
1. Prologe 1: Brothers

"Well? What do you guys think?" A meister and his two weapons at the DWMA were trying to figure out what their next mission should be.

"I think," said the weapon to his left, "that we chose the last two missions."

"Well then," the meister said, "I guess it's my turn to choose."

"Ooh! Ooh!" the weapon to his right exclaimed, "Let's do the one against 'The Lord of the Flies'!"

"I said I'M choosing!"

"DJ!" It was Black Star, Tsubaki, Death the Kidd, and the Thompson sisters, Liz and Patty, coming down the hallway. "Black Star!" said the meister DJ, "Wazzap? I see you're back from your private training."

"What can I say?" Black Star said, "Mifune makes me work like a dog."

"He seems to be the only one who CAN make you work like a dog." said Kidd.

"Hey. No one said the road to surpass God would be an easy one." said DJ, "Even Gods need a little humility."

"Right!" said Black Star, "I don't claim to have any humility but to surpass God I'll have to learn a lot!"

"You can learn it all! I know you can!" said Tsubaki.

"Of course he can!" said one of DJ's weapons, "He's Black Star!"

"You better believe it!"

Kidd smiled. _Those three have become indispensable friends. _he thought to himself.

_Hard to believe we thought of them as a madman, a loner, and an idealist only a year ago…_

_One year ago:_

Moses was a 16-year-old boy with long brown hair and glasses that were broken in the middle. Moses had been at the DWMA since the Kishen Asura had been defeated a week ago. In that time he had been on six missions, by himself, to collect kishen egg souls. All of them were successful. Six missions. Six souls eaten. Yet Moses had not completed his goal. Then he heard reports of the Kishen eating souls again. The fact that that he appeared to be alive was puzzle enough. Rumor had it that Asura's soul was still buried in the Death Room. Even so, Lord Death sent out his three best meisters, Maka, Black Star, and Death the Kidd, to investigate. Moses knew of only one person who could pull off wearing a Kishen costume to terrorize people. And if he didn't get to Austin, TX fast, he might lose his only chance of completing his goal. _And that,_ he thought, _is not an option._

* * *

_My next meal!_ thought the so called "Kishen," observing his food at Barton Springs, _Third blond this week. I should expand my pallet._ Swooping down like a vulture, he caught the girl unawares, pinned her on the ground, and said, "Lunch Time!"

Patty smiled. "Joke's on you, bub!" And with that, she pulled one arm free, just in time to grab her sister as she transformed into gun form, and shot the "Kishen" in the head.

When the "Kishen" recovered, he found himself surrounded. Liz and Patty had both transformed into guns and Death the Kidd Had them both pointing at him. Maka was holding her partner, Soul Eater, in Scythe form. Tsubaki had gone into Demon Blade Mode and Black Star was ready to battle. The "Kishen" smiled.

"Well, Well, Well." he said, "If it isn't my supposed 'killers.' As you can see, reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated."

"Drop the act." said Maka, "We know you're not the real Kishen."

"How dare you! I am the Kishen Asura! The first kishen! The ONLY kishen! AND I WILL NOT BE INSULTED BY SOME… SOME… oh alright, you got me." said the fake kishen, "What gave me away?"

"My dad still has Asura's soul buried in the Death Room." said Kidd.

"And," put in Maka, "your soul is not a kishen's soul. If anything, it's a kishen egg."

"Guess I can take off these scarves then." And he took off the scarves to reveal that he was a 16-year-old boy with short, green hair, and a devilish grin. "It took you long enough to find me," said the boy, "I've been collecting human soul for a week now. I've already eaten six."

"Before we pound you," said Black Star, "tell us your name so we know who is imitating a kishen."

The boy grinned wider. "My name?" he said, "I have no real name. But I have taken to being called 'What.' That's W, H, A, T. It makes things more interesting."

"Well then 'What,'" said Kidd, "We're going to take your soul."

"Well take this first!" Then "What" reached into his coat and took out a round thing which he threw at Kidd. When it hit the ground, Kidd noticed that there was a small blob on the side making the whole thing asymmetrical.

"Disgusting!" Kidd shot it only to have it explode right beside him, knocking him unconscious.

"Ku ku ku," What giggled to himself, "that's what I call going out with a bang."

"Eat steel, you poor excuse for a comedian!" Black Star jumped towards "What" with Tsubaki raised in the air. What pulled out his spring-loaded-extendo-boxing-glove and knocked Black Star into the springs behind him.

"Never leave home without it!" What quipped. He tried to knock Maka out with the glove but Maka ducked and sliced the spring-loaded-extendo-boxing-glove in two with Soul.

"You're next." she threatened, and then she sliced at What, but to her surprise, What put his arm out and stopped the blade with the palm of his hand. Soul saw blood dripping from What's palm. Black blood.

Soul was surprised. "Maka!" he said, trying to snap her out of her disbelief, "Do you remember the last time we saw something like this?"

Maka thought for a moment. "No." she said, "It can't be."

"But it is." said What, "Oops! Did I forget to mention?" He grinned. "I have Black Blood in my veins." In one fluid movement, he threw Soul into the springs and knocked Maka unconscious with a blow to her neck. _That's all of them. _he thought. _Wait. Where did Black Star go?_

"YA-HOOO!" Black Star sprung from the springs behind What and brought Tsubaki down on him. What managed to catch Tsubaki between his hands.

"Nice try, god-surpasser." snickered What, "To bad you couldn't catch Soul as he floated away."

"How did you know that?" asked Black Star.

"I didn't. You just told me." Black Star was confused. "Don't think about it too hard."

"Well," said Black Star, "I may not have been able to help my friend, but I can still beat you! BLACK STAR BIG WAVE!" With his one free hand, Black Star tried to drive his soul wavelength into What.

_Perfect._ What grabbed Black Star's wrist and redirected his attack right into Tsubaki.

"Tsubaki!" said Black Star, "Are you alright?" Before he could do anything else, Black Star was knocked out by What's uppercut and thrown back into Barton Springs with Tsubaki.

"See you next spring!" What yelled after them. "Well, that's all of them."

"Not quite, clowny!" What turned around to see Patty holding Liz in gun form. "Dodge this!" Patty let loose a barrage of soul wavelength bullets, enough to kill an elephant. For a single moment, as she was shooting, Patty succumbed to the madness inside her. But only for a moment. When she stopped shooting, she smiled, sure that she had eliminated the fake kishen. But when the smoke cleared, she saw that What's hands had turned into black blades with white edges, which he had used to block her shots. _Drat!_ she thought, _He's a weapon!_

What grinned. He retracted his blades and walked calmly towards Patty. "Stay back!" she said nervously, pointing Liz at him. What kept on walking.

"Shoot him!" yelled Liz. Patty just watched him walk forward.

What walked right up to Patty's face and gave her a kiss on the nose. "You're cute." he said. Patty blushed. What slapped Liz out of Patty's hands and onto a puddle of his blood. By saying the phrase "Bloody Coils," What made his blood wrap around Liz in an instant. Liz tried to transform back into a human to escape, but that only made the coils wrap around her mouth and nose tighter until she lost consciousness. What smiled.

Patty snapped out of her stupor. She tried to defeat What in hand-to-hand combat. With the possible exception of Black Star, Patty was the best at hand-to-hand combat in the DWMA. But What was fast enough to dodge her attacks and cunning enough to counter with his own. In the end, What slammed Patty against a tree, making a tree branch fall on her head. "It's over." What said to no one in particular.

"Not yet." Moses had finally made it to Barton Springs. His hands had turned into white blades with black edges. "Hello brother." What grinned.

* * *

A strange clothed figure watched from the treetops. He had seen everything. _Look at them._ he thought. _It has been ten years since they've seen each other and the first thing they want to do is fight._ He sighed. _Oh well. I guess it might help for them to let off some steam. Let's just hope they can make up before they kill each other. Good thing I'm here to make sure of that._


	2. Prologe 2: Sibling Rivaly

_17 years ago:_

The first birth had been successful. The midwife told the mother that this one would be special. "In that case," the mother said, "his name will be Moses." Three minutes later, the second baby was born. They had known for a long time that there would be more than one baby, but the midwife was worried. The first baby's soul seemed to be free from all madness and evil. This baby however, unless the midwife was mistaken, had a kishen egg.

She told the mother her worries and what she saw. "I don't care." the mother said, "He is my son. I'll love him no matter what kind of soul he has." She then screamed as the third baby started to be born…

_1 year ago:_

"What" always prided himself on being a weapon that was able to hold its own without a meister. His fighting style was simple: attack when an attack isn't expected and in a way that is not expected. In other words, fight with chaos. Fighting against his brother Moses however, who knew him so well even after 10 years, proved to be a bit more frustrating. Moses' fighting style was simple as well: don't fight. Dodge instead. _Dangit!_ thought What, _Fight me already!_

Neither of them seemed to be winning as they fought with their hands turned into blades, Moses with white blades with black edges and What with black blades with white edges, around the unconscious bodies of the elite meisters and weapons of the DWMA. Finally, What stopped fighting. Moses waited for him to continue. Above them, the sun watched them with interest, wondering what would happen next.

What grinned. "Still can't throw a punch. Can you?" He threw his blades/hands in the air and yelled, "WHASSA MATTER MOSES? CHICKEN?"

_13 years ago:_

…What grinned. This was the third time Jed, the local bully, tried to fight What. The first time, both of them got sent to the principal's office. The second time, Jed had to go to the hospital with stitches. This time, Jed had about 10 guys, his size, with him. "Jed." What sneered, "I thought you would've learned your lesson last time."

"I did." Jed retorted back, "That's why I brought my gang with me."

What giggled. "Ku ku ku. Misery really DOES love company."

"Just for that, 'Watt,' I'm gonna…"

"Leave him alone."

Everyone turned to see a boy of four years old wearing glasses, holding a book entitled _1984_, and trying to look brave.

"Well, well, well." Jed laughed, "If it isn't 'Watt's' twin brother, Moses." Jed's gang laughed behind him. "Tell me Moses. Are you willing to fight for your brother?"

"No." Moses calmly said, "But I'm asking you nicely to leave my brother alone. I doubt my other brother will be as nice."

"Aww, c'mon!" Jed taunted, "Whassa matter Moses? Chicken?"

Two seconds later, Jed was on the ground, sobbing, and nursing a broken leg. Moses hadn't moved. What did. "G-get him!" Jed yelled between the tears at his comrades.

Moses watched in awe as What fought 10 10-year-old boys twice his size. This was before either of them discovered their weapon abilities, so What could only use his hands, feet, and teeth. After what seemed like forever for the 10-year-olds, the fight was over. What stood over them panting. Not a single opponent could touch him, whereas half the boys later went to the emergency room, three of them had amnesia, and all of them went to therapy for the next five years. They still have bad dreams about it. Jed doesn't sleep at all.

"You did it!" Moses said, "You beat all of them."

"Yeah." What said without a smile, "But you didn't. Coward." He ran off to find a tree to climb, leaving Moses to think about what his brother had said.

* * *

"There you are!" DJ had been looking for his brother What for an hour now. He finally found him at the top branch of a tree. "Come on down, you blockhead! I want to talk to you."

What looked down at his brother. "I can talk to you up here just as fine as I can down there."

"Maybe so, but apologies should be said face to face."

"You want ME to apologize to HIM?"

"I wouldn't mind that. But Moses insists on apologizing to YOU!"

"HA!" What scoffed as he looked at the sky, "He's just going to do it again! Just once I would like him to stand up for something. ANYTHING!"

"Maybe he knew you could take care of yourself." DJ said.

"You always take his side of the argument. You always agree with him!"

"Because you can take care of yourself!"

What grunted. "Look." DJ said, "He knows he should have done something. At least talk to him. He is your brother, after all."

What finally gave in. He climbed down and DJ led him to Moses.

"Hey." Moses said.

"Hey." What said back.

"I'm sorry I didn't stand up for you." Moses said.

What smiled warmly. "That's all right," he said, "I'm sorry I called you a coward."

"Cowardice is merely the mind's knowledge of the body's weakness." said Moses, "Bravery is the mind's knowledge of the body's strength. Both of them are in every person. No apology is needed."

"I swear," DJ said, "I'll have to start charging you for these wise sayings. That was the third one this week!"

"I know." Moses said, "My English teacher, Miss Ivey, has been encouraging me to put them all in a book. I figure I might do that by making it a story about the three of us."

"A story about a loner, a madman, and an idealist?" What said, "Who would want to read that?"

_1 year ago:_

There was one other feature of Moses' fighting style: redirection of force. This feature was shown when Moses not only dodged What's lunge at him, but he also left his foot in the way so that What would trip and hit his head on a tree.

What snarled. "I'm going to kill you for that." He got up and looked at his brother.

Suddenly, he began laughing. "Look at you." he said, "You're none the worse for wear after 10 years. I've killed six people and eaten their souls. What have you done that was so great?" Moses looked at him. "Oh, that's right. You wrote a BOOK." The smile faded from What's face. "Why are you here? Are you here to kill me? Huh? Like these bozos? Hmm?" What lunged at Moses. "IS THAT WHY YOU'RE HERE? TO KILL ANOTHER KISHEN EGG?"

Moses could have dodged the attack. He could have tripped What and sent him tumbling into the springs. He could have then jumped in and held What under the water until he stopped struggling forever. He could have added another soul to his collection and returned as a hero to the DWMA. But he didn't. What he did do is let his brother stab him.

* * *

Being a grim reaper is a lot harder than it seems. Especially when you are confined to your room where you can only watch what happens. Watching the mission of his son, Maka, and Black Star, Lord Death felt regret. Regret that he didn't anticipate how powerful What would be and send reinforcements. Regret that Moses didn't feel comfortable enough to talk to anyone. About his brother. About anything. One of the things he regretted the most at that moment, however, was that he didn't send Moses off on this mission in the first place. Despite all this regret, Lord Death still had a responsibility to take care of. SPIRIT, he said in his cartoonish voice, GO TELL DOCTOR STEIN TO PRAPARE FOR A WOUNDED STUDENT.

"Yes sir." said the deathscythe beside him, who was still worried about his daughter Maka, but relieved that she was alive.

AND ALERT ME WHEN THEY GET BACK.

"Yes sir."

As Spirit ran off to get Doctor Stein, Death looked back at his mirror, hoping to God, which was what he was, that nothing else would happen to those kids.

* * *

What was in shock. He fully expected Moses to dodge, trip, and drown him. But instead, his blade/hand was poking through Moses' back.

Moses started crying. "You asked me why I came here." he said, losing consciousness fast, "I didn't come here to kill a kishen egg. I came here to save my brother."

What felt something at his stomach. He looked down to see Moses' blade sticking through his stomach and out his back. And for the first time in 12 years, he smiled warmly. "So. You finally managed to throw a punch."

As the two combatants collapsed on the ground with blood gushing from their wounds, black or otherwise, a man in an outrageous outfit jumped down from his treetop perch, thinking how lucky it was that he brought a first aid kit, and stood over the two brothers. "Blockheads."

_11 years ago:_

"WHAT! WHERE ARE YOU WHAT?" It was a dark and stormy night. After a fight with DJ about Moses, What ran into the night. Moses tried to follow him but his glasses got fogged up fast. Finally, he saw a purple figure running into the night. "Aw, drat. WHAT!" he screamed into the storm, "IF THAT'S YOU AND YOU CAN HEAR ME, COME BACK!"

The purple figure stopped. "Oh thank Mata Nui." Moses said as he stumbled towards his brother. It was a dark and stormy night.

Moses finally caught up to What. "What," he said, "come back home. Mom and Dad are worried about you. DJ is worried about you. I'M worried about you." What didn't move. "If DJ is the problem, I'm sure he'll apologize. Just say the word and I'll ask him real nicely to…"

"SHUT UP!" What turned around and back-handed slapped Moses across the face, knocking him into the mud and breaking his glasses in two. "Just… shut up." It was a dark and stormy night.

"One book." What said, "ONE BOOK! In that one book that you wrote, you said that people should have balance. That it was the same way for siblings. That one book made you famous. It gave you a cult. A FRIGGIN CULT!" What started to cry. "You said that neither of us could be better than the other. Well then, where's my fame? Where's my cult? You were always better than me." What wiped away his tears. "You go back and tell them. Tell them it's not DJ's fault. It's not Mom or Dad's fault. It's your fault. Your fault I'm leaving. Then, in ten years time… you'll see." What starred up at the rain and laughed. "YOU'LL SEE!" Moses looked up finally. Between the rain, the darkness, and the loss of his glasses, Moses could not see a thing. He could hear all around him laughter and a promise: "I'M GOING TO BECOME MORE POWERFUL THAN ALL OF YOU! I'M GOING TO BECOME THE MOST POWERFUL KISHEN EVER!"

Moses kneeled on the ground and wept. "Toa protect you brother. I wish you a safe journey." It was a dark and stormy night.


	3. Prologe 3: The Brothers Three

_1 year ago:_

This had been a bad day for Black Star. First he hurt Tsubaki by accidentally driving his soul wavelength into her, then he was knocked into the springs. Twice. He, Tsubaki, and Soul, who had also been thrown in and was found by Black Star caught in a whirlpool, were walking back to the battle with the being known as "What."

"Hey soul," Black Star said, "sorry about not catching you when you first fell in the springs. I was trying to figure out how my big entrance would play out."

Soul smiled at the man who would surpass god. "Don't worry. We'll just have to kick What's head in a couple more times." Black Star grinned with anticipation.

When they got back to the battleground, the view that greeted them was surprising to say the least. The surprising part wasn't that their friends were scattered around the ground, nor was the fact that Moses, the loner of the DWMA, had managed to get here, get himself stabbed, and stab What in the process. No, the surprising part was the man patching up both Moses and What. This man, a 16-year-old with brown hair, had on an orange shirt, a yellow submarine tie, a neon blue tuxedo coat, neon green pants, a purple fedora, and red sunglasses. The entire outfit was designed with the rainbow in mind.

"What happened here?" Tsubaki asked him.

"It's… complicated." the rainbow suited man said. "You guys better wake up your friends."

"Right." said Black Star, and then he yelled at the top of his lungs, "MIESTERS AND WEAPONS OF THE DWMA! YOU CAN WAKE UP NOW! YOUR GOD HAS RETURNED TO…"

Before he could go any further, an electric guitar was slammed on his head. "I said wake up your friends! Not the whole blasted state!" said the connoisseur of colors.

As Soul woke up his friends and Tsubaki tended to Black Star, the polychromatic person finished wrapping up the two combatants. _Some things never change._ he thought to himself.

When Death the Kid woke up, he went over to the rainbow reviver. "Is that Moses?" he asked.

"Huh," said the colorfully bright being, "I didn't know anybody knew his name at the DWMA."

"It's not our fault." Kid said, "We've tried to reach out to him, but he always seemed to only enjoy his own company."

"Give him time." said the multicolored man, "I've seen him come out of his shell before. It's worth the wait."

"Why did he come here?"

"That fake Kishen. He's his brother."

Tsubaki started to take notice of the conversation. _His… brother?_ She looked up at the human painter's pallet and asked if Moses was going to be alright.

"Well," he replied, "I'm no doctor, but I think that he and What should be sewn up soon, otherwise they'll lose too much blood."

"We have no time to lose then." Kid said, "Everybody's up and walking. Let's get back to the DWMA." He and Liz carried Moses, Soul carried Maka, Tsubaki carried Back Star, and Patty just walked by herself, still feeling a little woozy from the tree branch.

"What about him?" asked the color clothed guy, referring to the hurt clown.

Death the Kid looked back at him, wondering why he asked and wondering what his answer would be. Finally, Kid said, "Carry him if you want." _But don't expect anyone to help you with him._

_Well, it's a start._ thought the tasteful traveler.

"By the way," Kid called behind him, "My name's Death the Kid."

"Pleased ta meet ya! My name's DJ!"

As they left, nobody noticed the pool of white blood that was where Moses had lain.

* * *

The gang made it to the DWMA to see Stein and Nygus waiting for them at the front. "Lord Death sent us out here to wait for you to come back." Stein explained.

Just then, Lord Death himself came rushing out. KID! he said in his cartoonish voice, ARE YOU ALL RIGHT? IS EVERYBODY ALL RIGHT?

"I'm fine dad." Kid said, "Maka just has a large bruise on her neck, Soul is slightly waterlogged, Tsubaki has recovered from Black Star's wavelength, but for some reason both Black Star and Patty have large bumps on their heads, and Liz is having a little trouble catching her breath. All in all, Moses is the only one who was seriously hurt."

WELL, THA'S GOOD NEWS! the reaper exclaimed, HOW'S THE PATIENT STEIN?

Stein picked up Moses and started to take him inside. "He'll be fine," Stein said, "the bandages were well applied. But I should get him inside and sew him up before he…"

"Yo! Can I get a little help here?" Everyone turned and looked at DJ. They had forgotten about him and the fake kishen. "Who's in charge of this operation?"

Lord Death walked up to DJ and asked him who he was.

"The name's DJ. Musician, singer, painter, party-goer." he replied, "The grim reaper I presume?"

THAT'S ME.

"Well, this blockhead I'm holding needs attention as much as that one over there. I'm sure he'd be willing to wait his turn for the needle and thread treatment, but we should at least get him inside and reapply his bandages."

Death looked at him. THIS… BLOCKHEAD… IS THE SAME PERSON CALLING HIMSELF WHAT AND WHO ATE SIX HUMAN SOULS?

"Yeah, so?" DJ asked, "Does he have some unpaid hospital bills?"

WELL… THING IS…

DJ was confused.

"The thing is," What said, waking up, "I'm the evil bearer of a kishen egg soul. It's their job to eliminate such people." He grinned. "Who cares how it's done?"

"No way." DJ said to the people in front of him, "You guys are the good guys. You're SUPPOSED to help people!"

No one could look him in the eyes. "Oh come ON!" DJ said, raising his voice, "You helped that Crona chick, right? She ate more souls What did!"

"You need to shut up now." Maka said, defending her friend, "You don't know anything. Crona was being manipulated by Medusa. It wasn't her fault!"

"And you think all this is What's fault?"

"Why do you care, anyways?" Black Star demanded.

"Because he's my brother! And so is Moses!" This silenced everyone, so DJ spoke again, but more calmly this time. "You think you know anything? We were born as triplets. Moses had a soul without madness. Without evil. What on the other hand…" he paused, gathering his strength. "What was full of it. Madness. Evil. He never became like this. He was just born this way. Born a madman."

Maka looked down. Black Star stared at Kid, looked for a clue as to what to do. Death stared at DJ. Kid turned away. "I'm sorry." he said. What chuckled.

DJ started shaking. "Damn you." he said, "DAMN YOU ALL TO HELL!" Death stared at him.

"Please…" Moses started waking up in Stein's arms. "Please Lord Death. I know he's a bad person. I know he deserves to be punished. But… he's my brother. Please save him." Death stared at DJ.

"Forget it Moses." the disillusioned DJ said, "What is right. These guys are just a bunch of hypocrites."

What couldn't believe it. First Moses fought back, for once, and now DJ was taking his side in an argument! _This might just turn out to be a good day!_ What thought, _If I survive it._

The meisters and weapons started to go inside. Death starred at DJ "Don't go yet," DJ said, "I'm just getting started! NO MORE MISTER NICE DJ!" If anybody had doubted the strange births of Moses and What, all that doubt went away when DJ said three simple words: "Soul protect… OFF!"

Those with soul perception could sense DJ's soul throughout Death City. Those at the DWMA could see it: a huge 8th note, as big as his brother's souls combined. The most disturbing thing about it, however, was the fact that, unlike his attire, DJ's soul was one color. Purple. A witch's soul. Death starred at DJ.

"Surprised?" DJ asked, "I'd be. Now I'm going to ask one last time. Help my brothers, BOTH of them, or else."

"Or else what?" Black Star challenged, Tsubaki's enchanted sword in his hand, meisters beside him, weapons in hand, ready to attack.

"Glad you asked!" DJ said, "_Music, Muzak, Mesmerize. Music, Muzak, Mesmerize!_" In DJ's free hand, a small glowingl circle appeared.

"Is that a… whole note?" Soul said.

"That's right," DJ said, "and it's designed to create a sonic explosion capable of killing ten people." With a casual toss, DJ threw the note to Death and it clang to him like Velcro.

"Dad!"

"Don't come closer!" DJ yelled, "The note stays stuck and unexploded until I say so! Now help my brothers, or I WILL kill your boss!"

Kid sweated. "You're bluffing. The blast will kill you too!"

"Try me Kiddo. You have five minutes."

What was enjoying himself immensely. He started giggling like a maniac. None of the meisters moved. Death starred at DJ.

"Three minutes left!"

"He's crazy!" Nygus whispered to Stein.

"No." said Moses, "He's an idealist."

"One minute!" Death starred at DJ.

"Ten seconds! LAST CHANCE!" Nobody moved. Death starred at DJ.

DO AS HE SAYS STEIN. HELP HIS BROTHERS. BOTH OF THEM.

* * *

The meisters and weapons didn't know what to think about this. Stein was in the emergency room sewing up Moses and What. The meisters and weapons were waiting on the results. Questions were swimming through their minds. Why had Lord Death let What be saved? What was going to happen to the brothers? Nobody could say.

"Hey gang! Why the long faces?" Ragnarok and Crona walked up, unaware of the events that just occurred. Soul gave them a quick rundown "Wow." Ragnarok said, "You guys sure lead interesting lives when we're not around."

"What do you think about this Crona?" Maka asked. Lately, Crona had been encouraged to think for herself and voice her opinions.

"Uh… Well… I think that…" She took a deep breath, gathering her courage. "I think that… well, if Moses joined the DWMA just to find his brother, he can't be blamed for that. And… I and Ragnarok consumed more soul than What. And if what DJ says is true, having a kishen egg isn't his fault. And as for DJ," she said, gathering speed, "the only crime he committed was loving his brothers and wanting to protect them. No matter what the cost was."

Crona's friends thought about what she said. They decided that Crona's words rang true. _Damn it._ Black Star thought to himself. He decided to silently let What off the hook for knocking him into the springs. Twice. Tsubaki understood where Moses and DJ were coming from. She had always regretted not trying to do more to save her own brother. Maka wanted to kick herself for trying to kill What, and for not helping Moses since she was the one who first tried to reach out to him. Soul wondered if DJ would be killed for loving his brothers. Kid started to understand why his father saved them. Liz was trying not to think about life without her sister.

And Patty? She was sitting in the corner reading a book about a curious monkey. On the outside, she was enjoying herself. On the inside, however, she was worried about what would happen to What. She thought he looked kinda cute.

Stein walked out. "Both of them are all right. They just need some rest." Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

* * *

Stein had sent the kids home. He was just cleaning up his office. Spirit walked in.

"Lord Death wants me to get a report." he said.

"Fine," Stein said, "Both of them are resting in the other room. It appears that What does indeed have black blood. But there's something else."

"What's that?"

"It's Moses. He has pure white blood.

* * *

The two brothers, so opposite of each other that they could be named Ying and Yang and nobody would question it, lied on the beds in silence. The battle was over. The excitement was over. All that was left was each other.

Finally, What broke the silence. "I'm hungry. You want a carrot?"

Moses didn't speak.

"I noticed that you bled white blood. How did that happen?"

"Came in naturally when I got my weapon abilities."

"Ah."

Silence ensued.

"Got my black blood shortly after I ran away."

Moses looked at him.

"You are looking at Medusa's second black blood experiment, after Crona." What proudly announced, "She wanted to see how the blood would react to someone with a kishen egg. You sure you don't want a carrot? I was planning on raiding the kitchen for a pickle."

"I didn't go back."

What looked at him. "Run that by me again?"

"When you ran away that day, I ran away too." Moses said. What just glared at him. "We were opposites. That was the deal. Neither of us could be more powerful than the other."

"Should-a thought of that before you published that book."

"That didn't change a thing. You could still beat me to a pulp."

"You were always the smart one."

"You were always the strong one."

"I think you're both blockheads."

Moses and What looked up to see DJ sitting there. "How long have you been there?"

"I'm hungry. Want a carrot?" DJ replied.

"Where to begin?" he sighed. "What, get over yourself. You know Moses doesn't like violence. Moses, stop pretending you guys are equal. It's not helping."

The two brothers hung their heads in shame and said, "Sorry DJ."

DJ smiled. "Tell you what. If we can all work together on this, I'll help Moses fight better, and What, I'll get you a cult. What do ya say?"

"Sounds good to me." Moses said, "How about you What?"

"Fine," What said, "I'll play nice."

"Great!" DJ said, "Now first things first: what audience is your cult targeting?"

"Actually, I've got an idea about that…"

* * *

DJ closed the door silently. His brothers were sleeping, both ready to enact a plan tomorrow. BUSY DAY?

DJ turned around to see Lord Death standing over him. "Oh… hi… Sorry about the whole… exploding you thing."

NO WORRIES. THE BLAST WOULDN'T HAVE KILLED ME ANYWAYS, BUT I'M SURE YOU KNEW THAT.

"Yeah." Actually, he was just guessing.

ANYWAYS, I HAVE A QUESTION. DO YOU THINK YOU CAN BE A MEISTER FOR THOSE TWO?

"I guess so."

AND YOU CAN KEEP THEIR NOSES CLEAN?

"Clean, and hair-free."

IN THAT CASE, WOULD YOU CONSIDER JOINING THE DWMA? WE'D LOVE TO HAVE YOU. AND BOTH YOUR BROTHERS.

DJ was slightly taken aback. "Well, I don't know." he replied, "I'll have to talk it over with my brothers…"

_Today:_

"…and so the giraffe turned to the police officer and said, 'The last thing I saw was that crazy detective trying to get the nuts out of the fruitcake!'"

Everybody groaned, except Patty. She was laughing at What's bad joke.

By this point, Maka, Soul, and Crona had joined the group in the hall. A lot had changed since the brothers three came to the DWMA. Maka turned Soul into a deathsythe, Crona became braver, and they were now known, with Ox, Kim, Kilik, and their partners, as the elite meister/weapon group known as Spartoi. DJ, Moses, and What were not in Spartoi. Kid thought this would be a good time to rectify that.

"DJ, Moses, What," he said, "my dad has decided, since in one year you have proven to be not only powerful warriors, but also great friends, you have been chosen to join Spartoi. In addition, DJ will be upgraded to a two-star meister." He handed DJ his new ID card.

"Welcome to the elites." Soul said

"Wow!" DJ said, "I… I don't know what to say."

"It warms my heart to see that you trust us enough to bring us in to Spartoi." Moses said.

"It was my idea." said Maka.

"This means," Black Star said, "that you guys can bask in my awesomeness even more!"

"Maka chop!" Nobody ever did figure out where she kept that book.

"As much as we appreciate the offer Black Star," What said, "I don't think we need to, quote unquote, bask in your awesomeness. If you want to bask in MY awesomeness however, go right ahead."

"DJ chop!" Nobody figured out where he kept that electric guitar, either.

Meanwhile, Crona caught Moses staring at her. He started blushing. She did too because she had been staring at him first.

Suddenly, a voice was heard over the speaker: "Crona Gorgon, please report to the death room."


	4. Episode 1:New Beginings-Crona's reunion?

Crona nervously shuffled down the hallway of guillotines to the center of the death room, wondering what she had done this time. Ragnarok was not helping the situation. "Okay. Here's the plan." he said, sprouting out of Crona's back "Deny everything, including the facts, and evade any questions."

"Shouldn't we find out why we're here first?" asked Crona.

"Oh sure. Give them that advantage."

Crona and Ragnarok made it to the center of the death room, where Lord Death conducted his work. They were greeted by Lord Death and his deathscythe, Spirit.

HEY, HEY, HEY! CRONA, RAGNAROK, WHAT'S UP? Death said in his cartoonish voice.

"I didn't do it! It was her idea!" Ragnarok sputtered, "I mean… uh…"

"What Ragnarok means," Crona said, embarrassed by her partner, "is that we aren't sure why we are here. Sir."

"Well Crona," the deathscythe said, "as you know, you and Ragnarok have collected 99 kishen eggs so far, which means Ragnarok is close to becoming a deathscythe."

NICE JOB BY THE WAY. IT'S RARE THAT A MEISTER COULD COLLECT SO MANY SOULS IN JUST A YEAR.

Crona blushed. "Well… we weren't by ourselves sir. Usually we would have the other members of Spartoi helping us. Oh! Which reminds me." Crona turned to the deathscythe. "Maka found out that you have a voodoo doll of her. She wants me to take it from you."

"It is NOT a voodoo doll!" Spirit said, trying to defend himself, "It is a memento of her as a younger child! It is a daughter that actually loves and comforts me! It is…"

IT IS UNHEALTHY FOR YOU TO CARRY AROUND THAT THING. I HAVE TO AGREE WITH MAKA.

"Lord Death! Please don't take away mini Maka! Maka's mother made it for me, to remind me that we have a daughter, when we were separated! It's all I have…"

REAPER CHOP!

Spirit found himself on the floor with a rectangular indenture in his head from Death's oversized hand. "Fine." he said, taking a doll out of his pocket, "Take it if you must." _Good thing I've got a dozen more in my room._

ANYWAYS, the reaper said, turning back to Crona, I WAS HOPING THAT, THIS BEING YOUR LAST MISSION BEFORE BECOMING A DEATHSCYTHE, YOU WOULD CONSIDER TAKING IT BY YOURSELF.

"Uh… by myself? As in… without help from Spartoi?" Crona asked nervously.

THAT'S RIGHT! Lord Death said, IF IT HELPS, I THINK WE'VE PICKED OUT AN EASY TARGET FOR YOU.

Crona was unsure of what to do. She had always gone on missions with Maka, or Kid, or Black Star (although Black Star didn't really help that much). "Uh… well… sir… uh…"

YOU DON'T HAVE TO ANSWER NOW. Death said, THINK IT OVER FOR A LITTLE WHILE. NO HURRY.

* * *

"Admit it." Ragnarok said, "You're afraid to go on a mission by yourself because you are a weakling! A coward! A scrawny little girl who wants to hide behind the big kids and cry!" Ragnarok paused. His insults didn't have the sting that they used to. "Tell me when you've made a decision." he said as he receded back into Crona's bloodstream.

Crona wasn't sure who she could talk to about this. Maka would encourage her to go for it. Soul would agree with Maka. Marie would say the same thing. Blair wouldn't be much help, since she was working right now. Black Star would say she could always pray to him for strength. Tsubaki would tell her to go for it if she wanted to. Liz would tell her to follow her instinct. Patty would talk about animals. Kid would tell her that her outfit is asymmetrical and offer to fix it. Again.

Crona knew what each of her friends would tell her, which left very little chance for an opinion that she hadn't thought of already. She was walking through the halls of the DWMA trying to figure out who to talk to, when she saw Moses sitting on the balcony reading a book.

Crona had not talked much to Moses or his brothers purely out of shyness. She decided to take a chance and get a fresh opinion from Moses. She tried not to think about his nerdy cuteness, which was framed perfectly by those glasses, and… _Focus Crona, Focus!_ "Uh… hi."

Moses turned around, suddenly aware that someone was behind him. "Crona! Uh… hi."

"Do you… mind if I join you on the balcony?"

"No. I guess not."

Moses scooted over to make room. Crona sat down.

Five minutes of awkward silence passed with both of them watching the sunset.

"What's it about?" asked Crona.

"Huh?"

"Your book. What's it about?"

"Oh! Right! My book. Um… Quantum Mechanics."

"Oh."

"It's just the beginner's series."

"Okay."

Ten more minutes of silence passed. Crona took a deep breath, told Moses her dilemma, and asked for advice.

"You want MY advice? Why don't you ask one of your other friends?"

"I already know what they will say."

"Okay." Moses thought for a second, then he said, "Every bird must leave the nest at some point to forage for themselves. Every creature on earth must make a similar journey. You, however, have an advantage over that bird."

"What's that?"

"You have a choice of when to leave: now, or later. If you feel confident enough to go it alone, go for it. In the end, however, it has to be your choice. Just remember, you've got plenty of friends that will help. If not for backup, for cheerleading."

Crona was surprised. She expected a fresh opinion, but not one so wise. "Okay." she said. She got off the balcony and turned to leave. Before she left, she turned around and said, "Moses?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks."

Moses blushed. "No problem." he said as he turned back to his book.

Crona walked to the death room feeling more confident then she ever had before. "Lord Death?"

YES CRONA?

* * *

"I'm ready to leave the nest."

"Why did we have to travel by night?" Ragnarok asked. "And when were you so eager to go on a mission? I could be sleeping right now."

"You want to take the back seat for this one, then be my guest."

"And let you get both of us killed? No way!"

Crona and Ragnarok were flying to the last known sighting of their target. Since they had collected 99 kishen eggs, Ragnarok was able to call upon his Black Dragon form at any time. It made travel quicker, but it also gave him a mouth to speak louder with, so it had its disadvantages too.

"Now what Einstein?" Ragnarok asked when they got to the sighting site.

Crona looked around. "That mountain over there has some caves near the base that are perfect for hiding out in. Seems like a good place to start."

Crona started walking towards the mountain. After a while, Ragnarok spoke what was really on his mind. "Crona," he said, "You do realize who our target is, right?"

"Of course I do." Crona replied, "Our target is the witch Eruka Frog."

"I'm just thinking. Are you sure you're up to this?"

Crona inhaled deeply. "We all have to leave the nest sometime."

"You realize that makes no sense to me, right? I'm just saying. Eruka worked for Medusa at the same time as us. You think you can kill a former co-worker?"

"I'm trying not to think about it." Crona said, "Besides. Eruka made her choice to work for Medusa. Now, I'm making mine."

Ragnarok sighed. _This is going to be a long night._

* * *

Crona made it to the mouth of a big cave. She could sense a witch's soul inside. "Eruka!" she called, "It's me! Crona! I want to talk!"

A light was lighted inside the cave. "Crona…" Ragnarok said nervously. The light was coming towards them. Fast. "CRONA! DUCK!"

Crona barely got out of the way of the energy blast in time. When Crona got back up, she saw a lumbering hairy figure come out of the cave. "Hello Crona, you traitor."

"Free."

The immortal werewolf grinned a toothy grin. _Well,_ Ragnarok thought to himself,_ this explains why Eruka wasn't using her soul protect on herself. She was using it on Free so he could sneak-attack us. Yep. Definitely gonna be a long night._ Ragnarok turned into a sword.

Free laughed. "You really think you can stop me with that flimsy thing?"

"I told you we should have waited until daytime," Ragnarok said, "then we wouldn't have to deal with this guy in wolf form."

"Ragnarok," Crona said, "I know you mean well, but SHUT UP!" Crona wasn't taking any nonsense tonight, especially from Ragnarok.

Ragnarok was shocked into silence.

Free took this opportunity to ice spear Crona in the leg. "You know something," Free said as he slammed into Crona, "I had a pretty high opinion of you. Staying by your mother's side, after all she did to you." He slammed her with an ice pillar. "I once heard you tell Medusa that you would never betray her." She was thrown to the mountain wall. "Did you think about that when you left to join the DWMA? Did you?" He started punching her into the rock face. "I always repay my debts, so I expect other people to do the same. You owed Medusa the biggest debt of all, and you walked out on her." Cracks started running up the rock face. "You became a traitor. And you know what I do to traitors?" Free backed out of the way before the rock face collapsed with Crona under it. "I bury them."

Free turned to walk away, when a bloody hand broke through the rock pile. "You're wrong." Crona said as she climbed out of the rock pile, sword still in hand, "I'm not a traitor. I paid Medusa's debt with most of my sweat, and all of my blood. I killed for her. I bled for her. And I hated it. I don't care if she was my mother. I loved it when I left her. To her, I was just an experiment. To my friends, I was… no. I AM somebody. Ragnarok. Scream resonance." Ragnarok was still in shock from Crona's earlier outburst. "RAGNAROK!"

"Oh! Uh… right!" Ragnarok had been going to anger management classes for the past year. It was a condition of working at the DWMA again. The classes had dampened his personality a little, but he still had some illusion of control over Crona. That illusion was shattered when she told him to shut up.

"Gupi… AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!"

The scream from Ragnarok hurt Free's ears. It hurt more than usual, because as a wolf, Free had the hearing power of a dog. He hated high-pitched screams.

"This is it." Crona said, "Bloody coils!"

The blood that came from Crona when Free hit her with an ice spear came alive and wrapped around Free like an octopus and refused to let go, trapping him in their coils. "That's one I learned from my friends." Crona said as she lowered Ragnarok.

She heard a noise, and saw a frog hopping into the forest. "Before I go," Crona said to Free, "let me give you a word of warning. Medusa made my world, and my friend's worlds, a living hell. And now she's dead. Think about it." As Crona flew into the forest, Free couldn't help but smile.

_T_

* * *

_here. I'm safe._ thought Eruka. Then, Crona dropped down onto her, grabbed her, and held her against a tree.

"Eruka Frog," Crona said, holding the tip of Ragnarok against her froggy throat, "Your soul is mine!"

"Wait!" Eruka said as she transformed back into her humanoid form, "Please don't kill me! I'm still a virgin! C'mon! Crona! We're pals! Can't you let me slide, just this once?"

"Orders are orders. You should understand that. You followed Medusa's orders."

"Only because she forced me to! I swear! She put snakes in my body and threatened to have them tear me apart from the inside out if I didn't do what she said!"

_What?_ Medusa never told Crona that part. Or maybe she forgot it. She doesn't think about those days that much.

"W-wait! What if I told you where Medusa is? You could go kill her instead of m… erk!" Crona's grip tightened on Eruka's neck.

"You're lying!" Crona said, "Medusa is dead!"

"No! It's true!" Eruka said, slowly losing breath, "That's why I was hiding down here with Free! She threatened to kill me if I let anyone up the mountain! She has a shack up there! If you don't believe me you can go see for yourself! Please! I… don't… want… to… die?"

Crona had released Eruka and started up the mountain.

* * *

Medusa was tired. Tired of running from both the witches and the DWMA, tired from finally getting her body back after months of possessing that child, tired of having to always split her soul to save herself, tired of just plain living for 900 years. She was getting old. For once in her life, she didn't know what to do.

"Lady Medusa?"

Medusa turned around with a start. "Crona!" She ran to her daughter and threw her arms around her. "Crona! You dear, sweet child! You've come back! You've come back to help your poor, old, decrepit mother!" Medusa looked into Crona's eyes. Her expression was blank. "You… DID come to help. Right?" Crona stayed silent. "Ragnarok?"

He avoided her gaze. "I'm sorry Lady Medusa. We have a new purpose now."

Crona new Medusa would be angry. Crona knew she would fight. And yet, she did none of these things. She just lowered her head sadly and said, "Oh."

Medusa turned back to her table and looked for something. Crona didn't move. "You know," she said as she searched, "I should probably kill Eruka for letting you up here, but there aren't any more snakes in her body. I didn't have the magic or the strength to keep them in there. Ah. Here it is." She brought a scroll over to Crona, who still hasn't moved from her spot.

"Here." she said, giving Crona the scroll, "My last gifts to you: my soul and your final piece. This is the location to that piece. I guess in the end, my motherly instincts won out." Medusa smiled and embraced her daughter. "I love you, Crona. Please, don't forget that."

"Mom…"

* * *

It was sunrise at Death City. Maka was waiting up for Crona to get back from her mission. As she felt herself falling asleep for the last time, she looked out the window to see Crona walking down the street.

Maka ran downstairs to greet her. "Crona!" she said, "You didn't come home last night. Where were you?"

Crona sauntered past her and headed towards the school.

"Crona?"

* * *

Moses liked to get up at dawn sometimes. As soon as he saw Crona heading for the DWMA, he knew something was wrong. He rushed outside. "Crona!" She stopped. "Are you alright?"

"….I'm fine." Crona continued on her way.

* * *

Marie had woken up early to grade all her class' homework before the day started. She forgot to do it last night. On the way to get the papers, she ran into Crona. "Hi Crona!" she said.

Crona looked up at her with eyes, red from crying. "Hi miss Marie." she said monotonically. As Crona went into the death room, Marie wondered what was wrong.

* * *

"Sword meister Crona reporting."

The Grim Reaper looked at her. ARE YOU ALL RIGHT CRONA?

"Yes sir."

… ALL RIGHT. WHAT IS YOUR REPORT?

Suddenly, Marie, Moses, and Maka burst in.

"Lord Death! I wanted to see if Crona was all right!"

"Did something happen during the mission?'

"You had a mission?!"

PLEASE. LET CRONA REPORT. Death turned back to Crona. HOW DID THE MISSION GO?

"I'm afraid the witch Eruka escaped."

THEN YOU FAILED TO GET A WITCH'S SOUL?

"Not quite." Crona looked at her friends and held out her hand. "Ladies and gentlemen. May I present… the soul of the witch Medusa."


	5. Episode 2

The day started out like any normal Saturday. Death the Kid got up at exactly five in the morning. Besides Crona's deathscythe ceremony at nine, where Ragnarok would eat a witch's soul, he thought the day would be a normal Saturday. He knew that it would take a few hours for him to cook breakfast due to his insisting on it being perfectly symmetrical. He got up at five to give himself that time to cook breakfast for himself, Liz, and Patty, before they got up at eight (his idea. He hardwired the alarm clocks so that they wouldn't ring any other time). Before that however, he went to get the daily paper. Instead he found a paper giraffe with a note in its mouth. He started to think that today would not be a normal Saturday.

The first thing he noticed about the giraffe was that it was asymmetrical. He suppressed his urge to tear it to shreds, took the note out of the giraffe's mouth and read it aloud: "I am a giraffe who is made out of a test paper. Please break my neck." Pondering what this meant, he looked up in time to see Patty pounce through the doorway onto the giraffe. She crawled back in, on her hands and knees, with the giraffe hanging by its broken neck from her mouth, grinning like a tiger on catnip. Yep. Today was NOT going to be a normal Saturday.

* * *

To this day, Kid does not know who sent the giraffe. To this day, Patty does not know how the sender heard about her and the test-paper giraffe. Also to this day, What does not know why he didn't think of it sooner.

* * *

**Episode 2-Mark of Zodiac: What and Patty's Big Adventure?**

* * *

"Breakfast! Eggs cooked the way you like them, orange juice, sausage: links and patties, biscuits with sausage gravy, bacon, and cheesy grits!" DJ said, putting two or three plates in front of Moses, "Dig in!" Moses stared at his food.

"All right," said DJ, pulling up a chair, "What's the matter?

"Nothing."

"You sure?"

"Yep."

DJ had a hunch. "Why Crona! I'm surprised to see you here. Are you staying for breakfast?"

Moses sprang to life. "Huh? What? Crona?"

"Ah-HA! I knew it! You were thinking about Crona!"

Moses sighed, slightly disappointed. "I'm just worried about her. She killed her mother yesterday, and today she has to eat her soul. She was so full of life when she left for the mission. And now…" He sighed again.

"Hey," DJ said, "We're all worried about Crona, but there is no real reason to worry too much. Especially when she has such good friends to help her. Like you."

"Yeah," Moses said, "I guess you're right."

"Of course I am. Say, have you seen your brother? The familiar sounds of Saturday morning cartoons aren't drifting across the room today."

"There was a note on the TV that said he woke up early to do something outside. Something about a giraffe. Anyways, I think he's taping his cartoons right now."

"In that case," DJ said as he put his plates down on the table, "We might as well start eating."

They never did get to eat that breakfast.

* * *

What strolled down the street, feeling really pleased with himself. Generally, most run-of-the-mill pranks cause annoyance. The best pranks, however, cause annoyance and confusion. What prided himself on pulling the best pranks.

His stroll took him through the financial district. More than once, he had been tempted to do something crazy like crash an economy, make himself a multi-trillionare, or just kill a rich bigwig. All of this could be done from the financial district, although the third choice would require something sharp, blunt, or superheated. However, these kinds of temptations could be found in What's mind wherever he went. At the zoo he nearly released the lions and tigers and bears into the general population. This sort of thing was to be expected. After all, he was born a kishen egg. Born evil. The problem was that these ideas were making more and more sense.

He looked up at the DWMA in the distance. _It's time I ended this impasse with me and the universe._ he thought to himself.

* * *

Kid finished setting up the symmetrical breakfast table when he heard a crash from upstairs._ Liz is up._ Two minutes later his observation was confirmed.

"That damn alarm clock," Liz said as she walked in, "I threw it against the wall. The clock's fine, but there's a hole in the wall."

"I got it from the guys at Motorola who made the Nextel phones for the military. Good morning to you too." Kid said sarcastically.

"Whatever." Liz sat down. "Where's Patty?"

"She's upstairs watching her Saturday morning cartoons and chewing on a paper giraffe."

"A what?"

"Long story." Kid sat down and started to eat.

Liz smiled. "Heh. Why does that not surprise me?"

"Mm-hmm."

"You know, she is starting to grow up."

"Mm-hmm."

"She's starting to have more grown-up thoughts…"

"You're going somewhere with this, aren't you?"

"Have you noticed that she is the only one who laughs at What's jokes?"

"So? Maybe she finds them funny."

Liz stared at him. "Kid, those jokes are bad. Babies wouldn't laugh at them if it weren't for the strange voices and faces that went along with them. Heck, What knows that they aren't funny. I think he tells those jokes just to hear Patty laugh."

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that my little sister has a crush on What! And vise-versa!"

"So?"

"SO?" Liz stood up. "Patty knows nothing about relationships! He could take advantage of her, and she wouldn't know what he was doing! No one ever sat her down and had 'the talk!'"

Kid looked at her. "'The talk?' Is that even necessary in today's society?"

"Oh come on! I bet your dad sat you down and had 'the talk' with you!"

"Actually, dad never really talked about sex that much. Most of what I know came from his deathscythe, Spirit."

"…You're kidding right?"

"Look, we have to trust What to be good to her and for Patty to know enough about relationships to get by. Of course, all of this is hypothetical. Neither of them has made any kind of move, save bad jokes and laughter."

Liz calmed down and sat in her chair. "I guess so. I just feel I should… educate her somehow, but having 'the talk' with her might feel awkward since I'm her sister."

"Well… we could tell her about us." Liz glared at Kid. "Now hear me out." he said, "We agreed to not tell anyone because we felt that Patty wouldn't understand. Now, we have an excuse to explain it to her because it will help 'educate' her about relationships."

Liz thought about it. "Yeah," she said, taking Kid's hand in hers, "I suppose you're right. As long as we BOTH are the ones to tell her and not just… OH MY GOD!"

Patty rushed downstairs as fast as she could, but it was too late. They were gone.

* * *

The DWMA is a very tall building. It was made taller by an observation tower for stargazing and astrology classes. There was a perfectly good staircase to the tower inside. What, however, being What, climbed to the top from the outside.

At the top of the spire, he hung a sky chair and stood on the spike at the top.

"HEY!" he screamed to no one in particular. "IT'S ME! WHAT!"

Silence was all that responded.

Satisfied with the attention he was getting from the universe, What continued: "See, now, it's obvious that we have reached an impasse, you and I. I'm thinking that my brothers are no longer a good enough reason to continue doing good things. But, in the interest of keeping the balance of power, I am willing to give you another chance." He paused. "'But What,' you might say, 'We've already given you a place where you belong, a family that loves you, friends, what more do you want?' The truth is, I'm not sure. That's why I'm letting you make the offers. Show me what you can give and I'll decide if it's a good enough reason to play nice."

He put his hands to his mouth and stared directly at the smiling sun above him who was listening with interest. "DO YOU HEAR ME? PROVIDE ME WITH INCENTIVE! GIVE ME A REASON TO DO GOOD AND I'LL DO IT!"

He hopped into the sky chair below him. "Take your time," he muttered, "I've actually got all day."

The sun giggled at him as if to say, "You're going to be there awhile."

* * *

Not far away, Maka, Soul, and Crona were walking towards the school. Maka was grumpy at Soul for the way Blair woke him up: nine-tenths naked and meowing at the foot of his bed. Soul thought Maka was overreacting but didn't say anything in fear of being Maka chopped. Crona just wasn't saying anything at all.

"Hey Maka," Soul whispered, "Crona isn't saying anything. Do you think she's all right?"

Maka looked at Crona, temporarily forgetting that she was angry at Soul. "I'm not sure. She's been like this ever since she brought back Medusa's soul. Hey Crona. Are you all right?"

"Hmm? Oh. Yeah." Crona said sadly. She was thinking about how her mother acted before she died. She didn't want to burden Maka with her troubles

Thankfully, Maka didn't pry. She just said, "All right. But when you're ready to talk about whatever is bothering you, I'll be ready to listen." Crona smiled a little.

"And as for YOU Soul-"

Maka was cut off by the roar of a lion.

* * *

What woke up to his alarm telling him it was nine o-clock and time for Crona's deathscythe ceremony. He thought that this might be the universe's offer. _Nah. Too subtle._

He starred up at the sky. _Guess my early morning activities have left me a little drowsy. I must have fallen asleep._

"Hello up there! Who is that?"

What looked down to see Patty at the front of the school. "It's me! What!" he yelled back.

"Can you come down here for a second?"

"Sure!" What then proceeded to do a belly flop onto the ground.

Patty looked at the comedian on the pavement. He gave her a trembling thumbs up and said, "It's cool. My black blood will heal anything broken in a minute." Patty smiled at him.

What got up a minute later and dusted himself off. "So. What's up? No pun intended."

Patty giggled. "I need your help." she said, "I can't find Kid or sissy and I think it has something to do with the big hole in my wall."

"Well then, let's go look at this big hole."

* * *

"…...That is definitely a big hole in your wall."

"Yep."

"I thought it was just a euphemism."

What starred at the big hole in Patty's dinning room wall.

"Hmm. To get to this wall," he said, "he, she, it, whatever, would have to go through the fence, right?"

"Right."

"Right. We know this, because there is a hole in the fence right behind the wall. However, the hole in the fence is significantly smaller than the one in the wall. What does this tell us?"

"Um…."

"Yeah, I'm not sure either. Let me call my brothers." What pulled out his phone and dialed DJ's number. "….That's strange. No one is answering."

* * *

Black Star woke up, wondering where he was. He looked around, and saw that he was in some kind of cell with Tsubaki, Kid, Liz, Maka, Soul, Crona, Moses, and DJ.

"You have finally all woken up." said a voice from outside the cell.

Kid sprung to life. "You! You are the one who ruined the perfect symmetry of my house! I DEMAND YOU SMASH A HOLE IN THE WALL ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE HOUSE!"

"Maka chop!"

The voice giggled. "So this is the DWMA's elite? Pathetic. I dare any one of you to break these energy bars."

"I accept that challenge!" Black Star yelled, "Black Star Big Wave!" He then drove his soul wavelength into the glowing blue bars, only to have them blast him to the back of the room.

"Pity. Now I have to wait longer for him to wake up."

Moses asked why.

"Simple. I like my souls to be awake when I eat them."

"Who are you?" Soul asked.

"All in good time."

Maka tried to sense the soul of the voice, but she couldn't.

She couldn't sense any souls.

DJ sat quietly in the corner.

* * *

"You sure your brothers are at the deathscythe ceremony?" Patty asked What as they ran down the hallway of guillotines.

"Positive!" What said, "Moses wouldn't miss that for the world!"

They got to the center of the death room to find that only Lord Death and the DWMA staff were there.

WHAT! PATTY! HOW'S IT GOING?

"…Where is everybody?" What asked.

I'M NOT SURE. THE CEREMONY WAS SUPPOSED TO START AT NINE O-CLOCK. MAYBE THEY ALL FORGOT. ARE YOU GUYS HERE FOR THE CEREMONY?

"We've got a bigger problem Lord Death." What said, "Your son has been kidnapped."

WHAT? MY LITTLE KID-O HAS BEEN KIDNAPPED? Death turned to his mirror hopping to find him, but all he got was static. THAT'S STRANGE. THIS MIRROR SHOULD BE ABLE TO FIND ANYONE. SOMEONE MUST BE MESSING WITH THE SIGNAL.

What had a hunch. "Lord Death, could you try to find DJ with your mirror?"

He did, but got only static. Death got the same result when he tried to find Moses, Liz, Maka, Soul, Crona, Black Star, or Tsubaki. He tried it on Stein and got a clear picture. THAT IS STRANGE.

Stein looked at the mirror. "I'm guessing," he said, "that whoever is causing this interference has kidnapped not just Kid, but the most powerful meisters and weapons of the DWMA that he could."

"Their souls might give him enough power to take on all the deathscythes together." Sid said

"WHAT? MY MAKA HAS BEEN KIDNAPPED? I'VE GOT TO SAVE HER!" Spirit screamed.

"This is no time to panic." Nygus said, "Azusa. Do you think you can find them?"

"I'm not sure. If Lord Death's mirror can't find them, I don't think anything can."

What smiled. "Come on Patty," he said, "Let's prove them wrong."

* * *

Moses stared at Crona who was sitting in the corner looking… distant.

"Hey Maka," he said, "Is Crona all right?"

Maka looked at the pinkette. "I'm not sure." she said to the philosopher, "I try to talk to her about it, but she never says anything."

"Maybe I should try to talk to her."

_Good luck,_ Maka thought as Moses sat next to Crona.

"Hey." he said. Crona didn't respond. Ragnarok, who had been complaining for the last hour, had decided to leave the two of them alone. "I know something is bugging you. Why don't you want to talk about it?"

"….I don't want to burden my friends." Crona said quietly.

"Well," Moses said, "what about me? You don't really know me. I'm as much a stranger to you as a random person on the street. You won't burden me with your problems, because we don't really know each other. Just think of me as your psychiatrist."

Crona looked at her psychiatrist. "You really should tell someone," Moses said, "otherwise it will tear you apart from the inside out."

Crona's eyes glistened with tears. "….All right." she said.

"There has always been an understanding between me and my mom. She was making me the greatest kishen ever. When I was little she gave me a book. On each page was a different way to kill. Stabbing. Crushing. Lighting on fire. Just a simple book about killing people." Crona started sobbing again. "She had always been cruel to me. She never loved me. I hated it, but it was familiar. It was what I was used to. What I expected of her. But… when I saw her on that mountain, she didn't even put up a fight. She willingly gave her soul to me. She… she said that she loved me. And I…. I don't know how deal with her love."

Moses wiped away her tears. Crona looked up. "I stabbed her… so many times. Just like in the book. Just a simple book about killing people."

Moses looked at Crona. "Do you know how she survived for so long?" he asked.

"Y-yeah. She split her soul."

"Funny thing about splitting souls. You wind up with two different souls." Crona looked at him. "My mom once told me that any mother would willingly give up their soul for their child. She also told me that no matter how a mother treated that child, she would always love them."

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that Medusa always had love in her soul but it was so small that she couldn't express it properly. This time, however, she had split her soul so many times that the love finally won out."

Crona closed her eyes. "You make it sound so simple." she said.

"The simplest explanation is very often the right one."

Crona smiled. "Thank you."

Moses smiled back. "Anytime."

DJ finally stirred. "Good news." he said, "Help is on the way."

* * *

"Okay," What said, "let's go down the list of places to check for places we've already checked. Financial district?"

"Checked."

"Bookstore?"

"Checked."

"The glowing forest?"

"Checked."

"The circus?"

"Not checked. Ooo! Can we check there next?"

"Maybe. How many other places are there on that list?"

"Twenty-three."

What groaned. "Oi. We're getting nowhere fast!"

Patty looked at her partner in rescuing. "You really care about your brothers, don't you?" she said.

"Yeah," he replied, "although sometimes I want to throttle them."

Patty laughed at this. "You goofball," she said. What loved hearing that laugh.

"I wish you got a good look at whatever kidnapped Kid and Liz." he said.

"It wasn't my fault. I was upstairs watching Saturday morning cartoons and…"

"Wait. You watch Saturday morning cartoons?"

"Every week."

"No kidding! I watch Saturday morning cartoons too!"

"Huh! What channel?"

"The CW."

"No way! That's the channel I watch!"

"Really? I've always thought it was the only channel that provided quality cartoons!"

"I know! Right?"

They both stopped talking, realizing how close their faces were to each other's. For a moment, as they stared into each other's eyes, the only sounds were the sounds of the park around them.

Then What heard something different.

"Shh." he quickly said.

"I wasn't saying any-" Patty was cut off by What's hand over her mouth.

"Shh." he said again.

After a minute he spoke. "Do you hear it?" Patty shook her head. "Six words repeating over and over again. Bar…Is…Done…Air…Is…Salt."

Silence again. "WOAH!" What screamed, "My brother is a genius!"

"Mff-mm-mff-mff." Patty said.

"Oops! Sorry." What took his hand off of Patty's mouth. "Where was I? Oh yes! My brother is a genius!" Patty stared at the madman.

"Don't you see?" What said, grabbing Patty's shoulders, "DJ's witch powers deal directly with sound! Those six words were his attempt at telling us where he was!"

"That means…"

"Yep! Now, we can find them! The question is, what did he mean by those words? Bar is done, air is salt. What does it mean?"

"Sounds like you're saying Barisdone." Patty said, "As in Barisdone Inc.?" What looked at her. "What?"

* * *

The duo went to the library to find out what they could about Barisdone Inc. and to try and narrow down the search a little.

"Here we go," Patty said, "Maximillion Barisdone, founder of Barisdone Inc. Last year, it was found out that he had a kishen egg for a soul so Lord Death sent Kid, Liz, and I to kill him. According to this web page, his company was sold off and many of his storage houses were abandoned."

"Sounds like the perfect place to keep some meisters and weapons. How many storage houses were abandoned?" What asked.

"Let me see… forty."

"I was afraid of that." What said, and then he had an idea. "How many of them are near the ocean?"

"Ten. Why?"

"The second part of the message: air is salt. That indicates that they're near a large salt deposit. Last I checked, the only salt deposits large enough in the states were the oceans. Out of those ten, which one is the closest?"

"The closest one is in San Diego, California."

"Awesome! C'mon Patty! Let's go save our friends!"

* * *

"I woke up when he was dragging us in here." DJ said, "I got a good look at the outside and smelled salt in the air. I saw the word Barisdone on the top of the building."

"That must mean that we're in one of the abandoned Barisdone storage houses." Kid said, "I heard rumors that he kept cells in his storage houses to let his souls suffer for a while."

"Exactly." DJ said, "Once I realized all this, I silently used Magic Calculation to figure out where What was. It was difficult because he kept moving. Once he stopped long enough for me to lock on, I sent out a message via my witch powers to where he was that only he could hear."

"Wait a minute," Maka said, "I didn't once hear you say your magic chant."

"I said it silently in my head."

"Did you tell him where we were?" asked Liz.

"I think so," DJ answered, "but whoever is keeping us here must be emitting some sort of dead zone that blocks off all soul perception and communication from inside or outside the zone. The message might have been garbled a little. All we can do now is wait."

"I hate waiting." Black Star said.

Everybody looked at him.

"…When did you wake up?"

"About five minutes ago. Why?"

"….Crap."

"I see everybody is up now. Good. I'm getting hungry." Everybody turned to find the source of the voice. Last time he was shrouded in darkness. This time, he was not afraid to show his face.

"Who are you?" Maka asked, "Are you the one who sent the lion to capture me, Soul, and Crona?"

"A lion?" Kid said, "A bull was sent to kidnap me and Liz."

"Moses and I were attacked by a ram." said DJ.

"Black Star and I were captured by a fish-goat thingy." put in Tsubaki.

"Wait a minute," Moses said, "a bull, a ram, a lion, and a sea-goat. Those are all astrological symbols. And his body is covered with astrological symbols."

Moses was right. Their captor wore nothing save a loin cloth so everybody could see the blue horoscope symbols that covered his hairless body. Everything from the lion's head of Leo to the crab claws of Cancer.

The man of the stars chuckled. "Ku ku ku. I suppose you could guess who I am by this point," he said, "but let me save you the trouble. My name is Zodiac."

Kid's eyes widened. "THE Zodiac?"

"You know this guy?" Soul asked.

"Only from the stories my dad used to tell me about the one kishen egg he could never kill… because he could never find him."

"That's right." Zodiac said, "When I became a carrier of madness I gained a field that extends half a mile around me. Nobody inside the field can use their soul perception nor can anyone outside the field can use it on the inside of the field. The same goes for any form of tracking save sight and sound. The field has allowed me to stay one step ahead of Death's minions. It does have its drawbacks. Phone reception is blocked so I can't make any calls. In addition, it uses up a lot of energy so I have to keep consuming human souls, but that means almost none of them go towards my becoming a kishen. But, once I eat your souls, I'll have enough power to sneak into the DWMA and eat Lord Death's soul. The soul of the god of order will fuel my ascension to a lord of chaos!"

"I see." Kid said, "But how do you intend to kill my father? Set your animals on him?"

"I'm willing to bet that he doesn't just own those animals," Moses said, "he IS all those animals."

Zodiac laughed. "I see you've got a smart one here."

"The thing I can't understand," Moses continued, "is why eat our souls? Why not a three-star meister like Stein? His soul alone should give you the power you need."

"Because you guys are the most powerful souls that I could get. I admit, I can't handle a three-star meister. But five two-star meister-weapon pairs? Piece of cake."

"Are you saying that the great Black Star isn't enough to turn you into a kishen?" Black Star yelled, "I'll have you know my soul is on par with that of a god! Because I'm…"

"Wait a minute." DJ interrupted, "You said meister-weapon pairs. It didn't occur to you that one or two of these meisters might have more than one weapon?"

"No," Zodiac said, "why?"

DJ started to giggle. "Heh heh heh. Boy, you are stupid, aren't you?"

Everybody was starring at DJ wondering why he thought this was a good time to laugh so they didn't notice the Sagittarius symbol glow on Zodiac's left shoulder and a bow and arrow appear in his hand. They didn't notice until one of those arrows was sticking out of DJ's leg.

"Stay quiet or the next one is headed for your heart." Zodiac growled.

"You bastard." DJ replied.

"Maka," Soul whispered to his meister, "do you think we should use our new technique now?"

"I don't think so," Maka replied, "I doubt it would be very effective unless we get out of this cell."

A hole in the wall behind Zodiac suddenly opened as if cut open by a scimitar blade.

"Is this where the dance is?" a madman's voice said, "We're here to crash the party! And crush the host!"

* * *

"Who the hell are you?" Zodiac asked the two intruders.

"We're the dynamic duo of Patty and What!" Patty yelled, "We've come to rescue our friends, family, and meisters!"

Zodiac looked at DJ who was recovering from the arrow in his leg. "So," Zodiac said, "this is what you meant by your earlier comment. No matter. It's just more food."

Zodiac turned to What and Patty. "The name is Zodiac." he said, then he let loose a volley of arrows, causing What and Patty to scatter in opposite directions.

"Are you sure this isn't a party?" What said, "I've brought my own confetti popper!" What pulled a confetti popper out of his purple coat and shot it at Zodiac. When the confetti hit the ground below Zodiac's feet it exploded and released a cloud of smoke.

What and Patty plunged into the smoke. "I got him!" What yelled.

"So do I!" Patty yelled.

When the smoke cleared both What and Patty had grabbed a different Zodiac. Neither of them had bows or arrows and the Gemini sign was glowing now.

"Should have seen that one coming," Liz muttered, "stupid Gemini."

Taking advantage of their confusion, the Zodiac twins flipped What and Patty over their heads and threw them into each other.

"What!" DJ yelled, "This guy can harness the powers of the zodiac symbols! Be careful!"

What and Patty were back-to-back, each of them facing a Zodiac twin. "Patty, I think these guys are wantin' a whupin'." What said.

"Well then," Patty said, grinning, "let's give it to them."

The dynamic duo proved themselves to be aptly named as they erupted into a flurry of martial arts against the Zodiac twins. Their fighting styles meshed perfectly, neither of them anticipating their partner's moves but just going with the flow that both of them were sharing. The spectators in the cell were astounded by the chemistry between the two that lain dormant until now. Even Black Star was speechless.

What ended his fun by hitting one twin's pressure points and disabling his left arm. Patty kicked the other twin in the groin making him double over in pain. What then grabbed Patty's hand and swung her around so she could kick both the twins in the face.

The Zodiacs lay there side by side. Zodiac was never good at hand-to-hand combat. He had always relied on the element of surprise. This time, that element was against him. But he still had a trick or two up his sleeve.

"You think I'm beaten?" the twins said in unison. They grabbed hands and immediately fused back into one, unharmed, Zodiac. "You ain't seen nothing yet."

"Hey!" What said, "That's cheating!" His hands turned into his blades. "I guess I'll have to bring out the big guns."

"Oh. I agree." said Zodiac as the two zigzags on his chest started glowing.

"Watch out!" Moses yelled, "That's the symbol of Aquarius! The waterbearer!"

"What does that have to…?" What was cut off by the roar of the sea crashing through the door.

The water engulfed the duo leaving only Zodiac and those in the cell dry.

"Your weapons fought bravely." Zodiac said to his prisoners, "Because they gave me such a challenge, I'm not going to let them suffer. I'm going to kill them right away. And I'll give you the torture of watching them die."

* * *

Patty was panicking. She had learned to read. She had learned to write. One thing she had not learned, however, was how to swim. Water was filling up her lungs fast. Then she felt a hand around her wrist as her mad savior pulled her to the surface.

They broke the surface just in time. If Patty was under water much longer she would have drowned. "We don't have much time before Zodiac notices we're at this air pocket at the roof." What said, "As it is, there isn't much room up here in the first place. It looks like he pulled a bunch of water from the ocean and is holding it here to drown us. If we can break his concentration, the water should flow out of here through the doors and the hole in the wall that I made. Problem is, he's affecting the currents in the water so I can't get close to him. We need some sort of long-range attack." What looked Patty in the eyes. "Do you think you can transform into a gun so I can shoot you?"

"I… I don't know!" Patty replied feeling more scared than ever before, "In gun form, I shoot a concentrated form of the wielder's wavelength, but you're not a meister, and the only weapon that it's worked with was my sister, and… do you really think it will work?"

"…I honestly don't know." What said. Then he smiled. "But if it is going to work you're going to have to trust me. Okay?"

At that moment, the water closed in on them, pushing the air they were breathing through the top of the roof. Patty started to panic again, her eyes burning from the salt water. Then she looked at What. The man who said she was cute. The man who had black blood in his veins. The man who became the second half of her dynamic duo. The man who wanted to become a kishen. The man who was still smiling at her, even though they were underwater.

The man she trusted completely.

Patty stopped panicking. She smiled back at What and transformed into a gun.

What grabbed Patty and shot Zodiac seven times. Patty could tell that those wavelength shots were stronger than anything she felt before. Even Kid couldn't produce a shot that powerful. Zodiac was sent flying back into the wall. His concentration was broken so the water quickly drained out of the storage house but not before flowing into the cell. When the water flowed out of it, the current almost dragged the meisters and weapons into the dangerous bars. Luckily, Soul transformed into a scythe, Maka dug him into the ground, and everybody grabbed onto Maka's ankles. Thankfully, the bars were not electrically based so it didn't electrify everybody in the water.

"HEY YOU BLOCKHEAD!" DJ yelled once the water had flowed out, "WHAT'S THE BIG IDEA? IF WE HIT THOSE BARS WITH THAT MUCH FORCE WE COULD HAVE BEEN KILLED! YOU ARE SO GETTING DJ CHOPPED WHEN I GET OUT OF HERE!" DJ had long since gotten over his hurt leg, having wrapped it up with Moses' emergency first-aid kit.

What was standing a few feet away from Zodiac, Patty still in hand. "I told you," What said, still smiling, "I was bringing out the big guns. And Patty has to be the biggest, baddest gun I've ever seen." Patty blushed.

"But I think she can get bigger. Don't you?" What looked down at his partner and said, "Do you still trust me?"

"Yes."

"Then let's go for broke."

Zodiac tried to get more water in when they said in unison, "Let's go! Soul resonance!"

It didn't matter if soul perception couldn't be used inside the field. Everybody in that building could feel their souls resonating. If they could use soul perception, they could see a soul wavelength of astronomical proportions being created. What was grinning, but not like a maniac. He was grinning like someone who knew he could win. Patty transformed into what looked like a combination of a death cannon and a covenant version of a missile launcher. The DWMA students were awestruck. Zodiac was paralyzed.

"Time to end this." What said, as he pointed Patty at Zodiac, "BIG BANG BOOM!"

A huge wavelength blast rocketed towards Zodiac. When it hit, the wall behind him collapsed. The blast could be heard in the next state. When the smoke cleared, all that was left was rubble

Patty transformed back to her human form. She and What starred at the broken wall, the beautiful sunset, and the ocean beyond.

"…Do you feel the ground shaking?"

A giant scorpion suddenly burst out of the ground with a glowing symbol between its eyes.

"Oh, COME ON!" Liz screamed, finally losing her cool, "I just want to go home!" As Liz sobbed, Kid patted her back, proud at how long she stayed brave. It was a new record

Patty giggled. "My sis is a scaredy-cat, isn't she?"

A voice came from the scorpion. It was Zodiac's.

"You really think you could stop me?" he said, "I recovered from my shock in time to bury myself underground and transform into what you see before you."

"Ah. That explains it." What said, "When you switch to an animal based power, even before you become that animal, you gain the powers of that animal. That's how you made a small hole in Kid's fence before making a larger one in his wall."

"That's right. Now that you have the information, what do you plan to do with it?"

"Nothing. It was just the one part of this that confused me."

"Well then, I think I'll kill you now." Zodiac brandished his tail. "See this stinger? It's filled with a poison that will paralyze you, but you will still be alive when I eat you whole." Zodiac struck with his tail, but What leaped onto Patty, pushing them both out of the way.

"This just goes to show what I've always said." What said, as he and Patty landed on the ground, "Never bring a gun to a stinger fight. It's obvious that we need something pointy. Think you can stand some exercise?"

"The real question is," Patty said, smirking, "do YOU trust ME?"

"Don't have much choice, do I?"

"You goofball."

What returned the smirk and transformed himself into a scimitar with a black blade and a white edge. "Let's dance."

If the double martial arts had the duo meshing well, Patty using What made them perfectly in synch. Patty fought like she had been fighting with a sword all her life. Some of the students thought that What was taking the lead in the fight. DJ and Moses knew that What would never take the lead, that this was all Patty's doing. The truth was, neither of them were trying. They just fought well together.

"AAARRRGGGGHHHH!" Patty cut off a couple of Zodiac's legs.

"You'll pay for that!" he growled, as he sliced his claw at Patty. But Patty back-flipped over the claw and cut it off when she landed. This made him even angrier. He tried to get her with the other claw, but this time she jumped on the claw and used it to jump higher. Zodiac launched his tail at her, but she anticipated that and sliced the stinger in two.

Patty landed on the ground feeling triumphant. "Soft skin for a scorpion." she said.

"Hang on Miss Thompson," What said, his face appearing in the blade, "something tells me the fun isn't over just yet."

"You're right." Zodiac said, as he started to transform, "It's not over. Not by a long shot." With a flash of light, the giant scorpion changed into a giant crab. "I could do this all night. Every time I switch, my wounds heal. I get another wind. In a way, I'm like a cancer. You may defeat me, but I'll be back to consume your children."

Meanwhile, the gears in Moses' head started to turn. _Why didn't he go back to the Aquarius power?_ he thought, _That one seemed to be the most effective. I don't think he's smart enough to know that it couldn't have worked again. And why did he lead with Gemini instead of a more powerful one, like Leo? Unless… he said his shield takes up a lot of energy. Could his powers take up even more?_ Moses had a hunch, but that was all that it was. A hunch. He decided to go with it for the sake of his friends. For the sake of Crona.

"Hey What!" he yelled, "He's bluffing! He can only access each power once per day! All that's left is Virgo, Pisces, and Libra!"

"What?" Zodiac said, getting nervous, "How did you know that?"

"He didn't." Patty said, "You just told him. Don't think about it too hard."

Black Star couldn't help but feel like he'd heard that before.

"It doesn't matter. This form has a shell strong enough to withstand your attacks." said Zodiac, "It will be the last one I need."

Patty started giggling. "Hee hee. You're pretty stupid, aren't you?"

"Enough!" Zodiac roared, "I am Zodiac! I am not a laughing matter!"

What had an idea. "What's the matter Zodiac?" he sneered, "Feeling crabby?"

Patty started giggling even more. "Shut up!" Zodiac yelled.

"What's the next transformation? Pisces? You gonna flop us to death?"

"I said, shut up!

"Is it Libra? Are you gonna weigh us?"

"I… said… shut… up!"

"Maybe Virgo? Wait. Does that mean you're still a virgin? Why does that not surprise me?"

"SHUT UP!"

Zodiac was really mad. Patty was now laughing uncontrollably, her laughter increasing with each joke. She had to lean against the wall for support. What was, for some reason, glowing.

"What the hell is going on out there?" DJ said.

"W…well, if I had to guess," Crona said, finding her voice, "I think What is initiating a sound resonance." Everybody looked at her. "I've discovered that every person with black blood can initiate a particular resonance based on a particular sound. For me and Ragnarok, it's a scream."

"For me, it's piano playing." put in Soul.

"It sounds like the sound is supposed to mean something to the person." Kid observed, "Whether it's something they know very well, or just something familiar."

DJ looked at his mad brother. "So that's what this is." he said, "Laughter resonance."

"I SAID SHUT UP!" Zodiac screamed.

"Bwa-hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha hahaha! WHEEEEEE!" Patty jerked forward with a crazed look on her face. She held What up as the blade of the demon weapon changed into a great, big, smile. No lips. All teeth.

"Too laaaate…" What said in a creepy voice, the mouth of the blade now moving as if it was speaking those words. Patty, still laughing, leaped in the air and brought the now also laughing smile down on top off the giant crab.

"NOOOO!" Zodiac screamed as he was cut in two.

What transformed back into his human form. Patty recovered from the madness she had felt. What starred through the wall again. But this time, he starred at the rising, grinning, giggling moon. He felt the crazed smile that occupied his face. The slanted eyes that he once saw on Medusa. The black blood rushing through his veins at an even faster pace then before. The madness that was taking control once again.

And then he felt Patty's hand on his shoulder. He felt the evil inside of him retreat to its dark corner. He felt the warm feeling in his heart and soul. He felt the crazed smile turn into a warm one. He felt the tenderness in his eyes as he looked at Patty's smile. Perhaps most importantly, he felt like the universe had made a good enough offer.

_That was a close one._ DJ thought. Without Zodiac's field, he, Kid, and Maka could sense every thing that was happening with What. They all breathed a sigh of relief when they felt the chaos in his soul fly away. Patty and What were so proud of themselves, they spontaneously created a handshake that was later called, "Cock it, Lock it, Polka-Glock it."

"We kicked butt!"

"We sure did!"

What grabbed Zodiac's soul. "Here." He said, "You should eat this soul. You did more footwork."

"No, no. You eat it. You were the weapon when we killed him. Besides, if I ate it Kid would have a fit about how his weapons would be asymmetrical."

"Don't tempt me. I might just force-feed you to see his tantrum."

Patty laughed. "As much as I would like to see that too," she said, "I think they've been through enough today."

What agreed. _God, I love that laugh._ he thought as he plopped the soul into his mouth.

"Um… aren't you forgetting something?" The duo looked back at the students, still in the waterlogged cell.

"Yeah!" Ragnarok said, popping out of Crona's back, "I've got a deathscythe ceremony to get to, and pinky here just got used to the idea!"

"Don't worry!" Back Star yelled, "Your God will get you out of here! Back Star Big Wave!" Once again, he ended up thrown to the back of the wall, unconscious, by the bars.

"BLACK STAR YOU IDIOT!" Maka yelled.

What and Patty were rolling around on the floor laughing.

"Hahaha… heh… alright. I'll get you out of there." What said, as he pressed the button next to the cell. "There. Now you're…"

"DJ CHOP!"

What found himself hit on the head with an electric guitar. Moses tried to calm DJ down. Patty laughed even harder.

"What? I said I would DJ chop him when I got out. I always keep my promises."

What, surprisingly, didn't care. As long as it made Patty laugh, he could withstand a DJ chop. Hell, maybe even a reaper chop.

"C'mon guys," he said, getting up, "My mode of transportation will get us back to Death City in no time!" They walked out of the hole that What came in. Tsubaki had to carry Black Star.

"…Is that a Thomas the Tank Engine?"

"A life-size Thomas the Tank Engine. Minus the face."

"Uh-uh!" said Liz, "No way I'm getting on that train! I've suffered enough indignities today! I'll just have to find another way home."

"C'mon sis," Patty said, "We brought Annie and Clarabel along just so you guys can ride in it. Besides, it might be hours until you can find a ride home. Please get on the train sis."

"Patty, you can't expect me to-"

"**Get on the damn train, bitch!"**

Liz ran onto the train, frightened by Patty's "special way" of convincing people.

What shrugged at his brothers. "What can I say? She loves trains as much as I do." DJ and Moses sweat-dropped.

* * *

On the way home, the students were still trying to make sense of what happened. What and Patty were in Thomas while everyone one else rode in Annie, except Tsubaki who tended to Black Star in Clarabel. "What I don't understand," Maka said, "is how they were able to resonate in the first place. Shouldn't weapons only be able to resonate with meisters?"

"There have been instances where one weapon could focus the wavelength of another." Kid said, "But these instances have only been reported between siblings like Liz and Patty. Even then, full resonance has not been achieved."

"Then how the hell did they manage to create a wavelength so strong?" Soul asked, "I don't have soul perception and even I could feel it."

"Are you familiar with the concept of soul mates?"

Everyone looked at Moses. He had been silent until now.

"The concept dates back to ancient Greece." he started, "Plato said that when man was first made he had two heads, four arms, four legs, but only one soul. The creator, in his divine wisdom, decided that he didn't like the design so he split each person down the middle. He liked the new look better, but the cutting had left each person with only half a soul. And so, each human was left to find the missing half of their soul. Their soul mate. But if they do find their soul mate…"

Moses paused and looked at his captive audience. Everybody was listening to him except DJ who had heard it all before. "…if they do find their soul mate, theoretically, they could produce a resonance rate unlike anything else, regardless of whether or not they are a weapon, meister, or even a witch."

"Soul mates don't exist." DJ said, "They're just ways of convincing people that who they're in love with is 'the one.' Even if they did exist, I doubt they apply to a person who is already one third of a soul. It's more likely that resonance was achieved because What is half meister." It was true. The brothers three had a weapon for a mother and a meister for a father. They left the DWMA long ago in search of a more peaceful life.

Moses only smiled. "Oh, my cynical brother," he said, "a philosopher's words must never be taken literally. You now that better than most." DJ looked out the window. "How do you explain their synchronized fighting? The hope he gave her in the water? The way the madness rushed out of him when she touched his shoulder?" Moses turned to Liz. "Something tells me it's time you had 'the talk' with your sister."

Liz smirked triumphantly at Kid.

DJ grunted. His brother made a good argument for soul mates. "What should have brought Gordon so we could get home faster." he said, as he starred out the window, "Come to think of it, where did all these train tracks come from? There's no train station in Death City!"

* * *

Crona stood before Lord Death. Her friends and family were watching as Ragnarok prepared to eat his witch's soul. Behind the crowd stood Conductor What and his fireman Patty.

"Hope you liked the train ride." he whispered.

"I loved it." she replied, "How did you know I adore Thomas the Tank Engine?"

"I didn't. I just have a complete set. But only the trains that are actually from the books."

"None of the new characters?"

"Nope. If you don't like the classics, get out of the movie business."

"I hear that. I stopped watching it on TV when they went CGI. Now I just watch the old tapes."

"Yeah. I mean, moving mouths? Who do they think they are? Dinosaur Train?"

"What I want to find is the original books."

"I've been searching for years. Still don't have the whole set."

Something then occurred to Patty. "Hey. If you and Moses have been collecting souls as long as Crona, why aren't you guys up there with her?"

"Well, it's due to two reasons. The first being, we had to go through many tests to make sure we were trustworthy and ready to go out into the field. The second being, we're rather picky about who we fight. We don't want to give the DWMA too much power." Patty glared at him. "The fact is, good needs evil and evil needs good. If there was only one of them, they would get bored, blow their brains out, and then where would we be? There is a very delicate balance of power in the universe."

"Like ying-yang?"

"Exactly. Since DJ, Moses, and I recognize that this balance is needed to keep the world turning, we fight the A-listers or the people who REALLY threaten to tip the scales in the other direction. It's funny really. Chaos is needed to keep order in the universe."

What looked over at Patty who was starring at him. And then she smiled and said, "You're crazy."

"Quite."

They were interrupted when Lord Death finally finished his speech, or rather, the speech his son had written for him, and Ragnarok finally ate his witch's soul. Ragnarok started to grow and bubble until he had almost quadrupled in size. He was back to his original, muscle-bound form.

Everyone applauded. It had long been theorized that this would happen when Ragnarok became a deathscythe, but that made it none the less impressive. "Not a bad show," Patty whispered to What, "for being ten hours late."

"Mm-hmm. Say," What said, "do you like root beer floats?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"Well, I was thinking after all this, we could go back to my house for root beer floats. I could show you my Railway Series collection, watch some of today's Saturday morning cartoons…"

"You had them taped?"

"Yep."

"Count me in!" Patty joyously replied. As an afterthought, she kissed What on the cheek and said, "Nice to finally meet you, goofball."

One thing was for sure. Today was NOT any normal Saturday.


	6. Episode 3

Crona woke up but did not open her eyes. Instead, she recollected the events of the night before. She remembered being rescued from Zodiac by What and Patty. She remembered when Moses made her feel better. She remembered her deathscythe ceremony and when Ragnarok almost embarrassed her to death. He had grabbed Medusa's soul when Lord Death finished his speech and said, "It's about time! I'm starving! I've been waiting all day for this!" It took all of Crona's self-control not to whack Ragnarok upside the head.

_The after-party at Kid's house was nice._ Crona thought, _I didn't know DJ could DJ so well. I wonder where What and Patty ran off to though._

Crona opened her eyes and looked out at the rising sun, which always greeted people with a "Good morning everybody! It's the start of a brand new day!"

Ragnarok's becoming a deathscythe was nothing really special on a grand scale. There had been an upsurge in the number of deathscythes in the world after the defeat of the Kishen Asura. But to Crona, it was the best thing that could happen. _Now that Ragnarok is a deathscythe, he can be used by Lord Death._ she thought, _However, he and I can't be separated since he is my blood. Which means I will always be his meister, which means that, as a deathscythe's partner, my place at the DWMA is pretty much permanent. They can't get rid of me now._

Crona stretched her two arms above her head as the third arm pushed her covers off of her. _At the risk of sounding cliché, today is the first day of the rest of my… three arms?_

Her scream woke up the rest of the Evans/Albarn/Gorgon household.

* * *

**Episode 3-Blood and Frogs! Bionicles Among Us?**

* * *

Maka examined Crona's new third arm. Crona had been living with Maka, Soul, and Blair ever since the Kishen was destroyed, so Maka had come to expect some weird things involving black blood. This, however, really took the cake. The arm seemed to be made of black blood. It looked a lot like one of Ragnarok's arms. "Ragnarok, is this your doing?" she asked the new deathscythe.

"Me?" he exclaimed with a mouthful of scrambled eggs, "I was asleep when this happened! That black blood arm isn't controlled by me, Crona controls it! Now let me eat! I'm hungry!"

"Heh," Soul said, "I'm surprised you can eat at all. You devoured the buffet at the party last night. Including the table."

"And it still didn't fill me up. Besides, this food is good!"

"Hmph. At least someone likes my cooking." Blair said. She had been in her cat form all day.

Crona groaned. "Ugh. I don't know how to deal with this."

"Calm down Crona." Maka said, reassuringly, "We'll just go see Professor Stein before class. Okay?"

"…Okay."

"Good. Now I've got to go get ready for school."

"Well, I'm going to take stock of the kitchen." Blair said, "I swear. I'm the only one in this house who goes shopping anymore."

"Whatever," Soul said, "I'm going back to bed."

"No you are NOT" Maka said, grabbing Soul by the ear and dragging him into his room, "You've got to clean your room before we go to school young man! Look at this mess!"

Crona leaned her head back on the couch. She was already dressed since she always slept in the clothes she was going to wear the next day. Suddenly the doorbell rang.

"I'll get it." Crona said as she walked to the door with Ragnarok still eating his breakfast. She reached for the doorknob, and then quickly hid her third arm behind her back. She opened the door to find Eruka Frog on the other side.

"Hi Crona!" she said in her perkiest voice.

* * *

The brothers three sped to their next mission. Their transportation was something to behold. DJ wrote up the original designs and had commissioned Joe Buttataki to build it. Joe said that the ambition and plans of the project were worthy of Eibon himself. It took several months to complete.

The result was an aircraft/hovercraft that was shaped like a grand piano with three cockpits on the top. Its propulsion system produced eco-friendly fumes that were colored so that the piano was creating a rainbow behind it. The rainbow doubled as a defense mechanism. DJ would sit on a seat in the back, play the piano, and the notes he played came out of the piano and onto the rainbow, using it as a music clef. The notes exploded on contact with whatever was behind the vehicle and the blast size would depend on the type of note.

In addition to being a fully functional piano, the craft contained a stage, a large sound system, and enough instruments, computer technology, and sounds to satisfy a 100-piece orchestra, four rock bands, and Dubstep. Joe called it the roadie's best friend. What called it the Pontoffel Pock. DJ christened it _The Walrus._ This was the first time it was taken out into the field.

What yawned and smiled. "You know what?" he said, "I feel good today."

"Okay," DJ said, "what did you do?"

"Why is it that whenever I feel good you think I've done something bad?"

"Remember the 'video game week' of pranks?" Moses put in.

"You felt good that week, didn't you?" DJ said, "The gold rings in the gym, the aliens in the cafeteria, the tri-force in the death room, the fake stars and pink blob taped to the telescope…"

"Don't forget the Bob-bombs in the toilets."

"Haha! Good times…" What said, remembering last week.

DJ was going to pursue the matter further, but he had a feeling that he already knew the answer. "Moses," he said instead, "read that mission briefing again."

Moses looked in the folder that he had in his lap and began to read. "The Roanoke killer." he started, "In 1585, Sir Walter Raleigh established the Roanoke colony. This colony was the first English colony in America. In 1587, Virginia Dare was born: the first American born of English parents. After that, the ship that brought the first colonists left for England to get more supplies and more colonists. When the ship came back, everyone was gone. They say even the graves were empty. The only clue was the word 'croatoan' scrawled on a post in the fort and 'cro' was carved on a nearby tree. The natives could offer no explanation, but the word croatoan was also the name of a nearby island. The colony was deemed a failure, and the mystery was never solved, although many good theories were thought up.

"The colony was on modern day Roanoke island in Dare County, North Carolina. Today, the economy of the county is mostly on the tourism that the mystery brings in. However, someone has been kidnapping people and leaving the word croatoan at the crime scenes. It's been scaring away a lot of people. No discernable pattern has been found in terms of the victims. The kidnapper kidnaps men, women, children…"

"Wait a minute." What said, "Children?"

"Yes. Usually in large groups."

"Oh." What would never admit it, but children were his weakness.

"Any thoughts on the subject?" DJ said.

"It's most likely a copycat." Moses replied, "Either that, or he's 426 years old. I've got a place I'd like to ask around first."

"Fine by me," DJ said as he landed _The Walrus_, "because we're here."

The brothers got out of the piano. "Moses," What said, "I thought you said this place was a tourist spot."

"It is."

"Than why does it look like a ghost town?"

Moses looked around. He saw people quickly shut doors and windows. "I guess with a kidnapper on the loose, people here are a little nervous around strangers." he said.

DJ frowned. _This is not going to be easy._ he thought.

* * *

Crona slammed the door in Eruka's face. "Maka! Eruka's at the door!" she called.

"And she's perky!" Ragnarok added, "I don't know how to deal with perky witches! Crap. Now I'm starting to sound like you Crona."

Maka rushed in, Soul on her heels. In an instant, Soul transformed into a scythe and Ragnarok into a sword.

"What's going on?" Blair said, looking up from the pantry.

"There's a witch at the door." Maka replied, "You better step back. Crona, open the door."

"O-ok." Crona opened the door, only to find that no one was there.

Maka cautiously entered the hall and looked around. "She must have ran off." She said.

"What do we do now?" Crona asked.

"Alright." Maka said, "Soul and I will go and look for her. You better stay here Crona. It's likely that Eruka is here to kill you."

"What? Why?"

"Well, we DID try to kill her." Ragnarok said.

"Don't worry Crona!" Maka said, running down the hall, "We'll find that witch!"

Crona slumped down on the couch again. Ragnarok transformed back and started eating again. Crona sighed. "Maka still treats me like I'm a delicate porcelain doll that would shatter under the smallest amount of pressure."

"Oh come on." Blair said, "Maka knows you're strong. You created a deathscythe after all."

"Yeah. Mostly with her help." Crona thought about the gift Medusa had given to her.

Blair decided to leave Crona alone. _When she gets in this mood, few things can bring her out of it._ "I'm going to get some groceries." Blair said as she transformed into her human form, "Don't get killed before I get back." And with that, she left.

Crona starred at the ceiling for a second when a voice beside her said, "Finally. I thought they would never leave."

Crona and Ragnarok turned to see Eruka in her Frog form, climbing in through the window. "Is it just me, or do you have three arms Crona?" she said.

"Not again!" Ragnarok said as he became a sword once more.

"Wait!" Eruka said in a hurry, "I'm not here to fight! I'm here to offer my services!"

A minute passed. "Go on." Crona said as she lowered Ragnarok.

Eruka jumped onto the coffee table. "You see," she started, "without Medusa, I don't really have anything to do. If I ever go back to the Witches Council, I'll be killed for releasing Free from his cell. I was left with nowhere to go, but then I thought of you! Since you spared my life, I could become your indentured servant and all I ask for in return is room and board!"

"Why can't you live with Free? Or the Mizune sisters?"

Eruka's face drooped. "Well… when the Mizunes found out that I had lied about who killed their sister, they kinda stopped talking to me. And as for Free… well… after we found each other again, he kinda thought that I had betrayed Medusa by telling you where she was."

"Didn't you tell him that you were full of snakes?" Ragnarok said who was now back in regular form.

"I didn't get the chance. He threw me out on my behind and said he didn't want to see me again." Eruka got down on her knees, if that was possible for a frog. "I'm out of options here! I just want to start a new life. If you let me be your indentured servant, I promise not to kill anyone unless you tell me to. I swear!"

Crona thought about it for a few minutes. "Well…"

"We've got you now witch!"

Maka and Soul had returned, having sensed Eruka with her soul perception. Maka slammed Soul down on the coffee table, but Eruka managed to jump in time. Maka swung at her again in midair, but missed and just avoided hitting Crona and Ragnarok in their heads.

"Sorry Crona!" Maka quickly said. Ragnarok glared at her.

"Wellit'sobviousthatI'veoverstayedmywelcomesojustg ivemeacallwhenyou'vethoughtaboutmyofferCronabye!" Eruka said as she ran for the door.

"I forgot my purse Cro-" Blair had come back home. When she saw Eruka, her animal instincts took over and she was suddenly hungry for frog's legs. She pounced on Eruka, but Eruka jumped up and made Blair and Maka crash into each other.

Eruka ran into Crona's room. Maka ran in after her, but Blair sat down on the couch and let her hat familiar Zwan do the work for her. She was grinning like a cat playing cat and frog.

Crona was on the couch rubbing her temples trying to deal with this. Ragnarok was laughing his butt off at the hilarity of it all and crashes could be heard coming Crona's room.

When Crona heard her favorite picture smash, she had had enough. She grabbed Blair by the shirt and pulled her in close. "Blair," she said, looking angry, "get your familiar out of my room NOW!" Blair complied.

Eruka ran out of Crona's smashed room right into the pathway of Blair with Maka on her heels. Eruka tried to leap into the air to escape, but Blair and Maka leapt with her when suddenly…

"ENOUGH!"

All three of them stopped in midair. Blair and Maka fell on their behinds and Eruka was caught by Crona's new third arm.

"Maka," Crona started, "Eruka did not come to kill me. In fact, she came to become my indentured servant. Blair, keep your instincts under control or, I swear, I will put you in a bag and THROW YOU IN A RIVER!" Even Ragnarok was shocked into silence by this outburst.

Crona took a deep breath. "Now. Here is what we're going to do. We are going to go see Lord Death. When we get there, we will see if we can get Eruka a pardon for her crimes. I guaranty you that she won't try anything. Right Eruka?" Crona said, giving Eruka a squeeze.

"S-sure." Eruka said nervously. She had forgotten how scary Crona could be.

* * *

"No! No way I'm going in there! You can't make me!"

"C'mon What. It can't be that bad."

"Can't be that… Moses, they'll crucify me!"

"They will not."

"Oh yeah DJ?" What pointed to the Bionicle Tri-neuralism church in front of them. "What would YOU do to your deity's polar opposite?"

Moses rubbed the top of his nose. He didn't need this. "First of all," he started, "I am not the god of Bionicle Tri-neuralism. The closest I come is the Bionicle Tri-neuralism equivalent of Jesus Christ. Unintentionally, I assure you. Second of all, I specifically state in my book, _Bionicle Tri-neuralism_, there should be NO crucifying. Or hanging. Or lynching. Anything like that can cause a whole lot of trouble that nobody needs. Third of all, most Tri-neuralists are pacifists. Especially the priests."

"Yeah, but that still doesn't make me comfortable around them. They always give me the _evil eye_."

"Look at it this way." DJ said, "To them, both your eyes are evil."

"Hardy-har-har."

"Alright, let me put it another way. You're going in there willingly, or on a stretcher." What decided to take the former choice.

The church looked like any other church, except without crosses. On the front was the Bionicle symbol: three dots, the middle being larger than the other two, in a diagonal line, with two sideways M's on either side. The dots represented the virtues of Unity, Duty, and Destiny. The Bionicle virtues. More of those symbols could be found inside.

The inside was mostly pews. The alter consisted of a large Bionicle symbol made of wood. It was in front of a large colored glass window that showed a huge robot with three circles connecting at his head. A man could be seen praying at the alter.

"We thank thee, Mata-Nui, for creating us, we thank thee, Teridax, for destroying us when our time comes…"

"DJ, shouldn't we start asking him questions?"

"Shush. Let him finish his prayers, What."

"… and we thank thee, Toa, for protecting us until that time comes. Finally, we thank the entire trinity, for sending your servant Lord Moses to guide us." The man bowed to the alter. He was about to get up, but went back to his kneeling position instead. "Before we go, we know that we have asked this many times before, but in case you forgot, we would much appreciate it if you were to save the children from the monster that has taken them."

"All you had to do was ask."

The man turned to find his lord standing behind him. "Oh! Lord Moses!" he said, standing up excitedly, "You're here! Oh my! W-we're sorry! We should have swept! The place is a mess! We wish you would have told us you were coming, we could have tidied up a bit. Not that we're sorry that you're here. You and…" He looked at his lord's companions. "… and… your… brother What."

_There it is. The evil eye._ What shuffled his feet nervously.

"And me!" DJ said, trying to draw attention from his mad brother, "I'm here too. I'm DJ."

"You need no introduction sir. We have listened to the albums released by your band, the Scarebs, many times."

"Really. What do you think of the music?"

"We think it's great!"

"What… eh… what do you think about me?"

"Well, we think you're terrific."

"Well… what do you really think about me?"

"We think you're the best."

"Am I… am I any good?"

"Man, you're sensational!"

"Am I cool?"

"No, you're downright awesome."

DJ shook his hand vigorously. "I could listen to this man all day. What's your name?"

"Our name is David Austin. We are the priest here at the Bionicle Tri-neuralism Church of Roanoke." The priest looked at Moses. "Are you here to stop the kidnappings?"

"Yes. We understand that you witnessed one of these kidnappings."

"We did. We'll never forget it. Two days ago, we were teaching the local children calculus. They're the smartest children we've ever seen. We went inside to get some snacks. When we came out…" he started to cry. "We saw the beast take all the children away. Including my daughter. We didn't get taken as well, because we hid. We saw as the creature shoot beams from his eyes to write the word croatoan in the ground. We couldn't do anything! We just hid! We… we…"

Moses put a hand on his follower's shoulder. "You did all you could." he said, "There is nothing to be ashamed of." David felt better. What asked him how many children there were.

"Fifteen. All around seven or eight years old."

"Can you give us a description of the kidnapper?" DJ asked.

"Um… ten feet tall… red eyes… carrying a large staff. That's all we can remember."

"Thank you."

"Oh wait! There was one more thing. He was completely covered in metal."

"Metal. Okay."

What and DJ turned to leave, but Moses had one last thing to say: "We will find the children. Including your daughter."

"Thank you Lord Moses. We will pray for your safe return."

Moses joined his brothers outside, who were in the middle of an argument. "…all I'm saying is that he gave all that information to the police already, we could have just looked at the police record, and saved us the trouble of us ever coming here in the first place."

"Information was not the only reason Moses wanted to come here. He also came to comfort the priest."

"That same priest looked like he wanted to nail me to the alter. Just like I said he would!"

"I think it would be more respectful to refer to them with the plural pronouns rather than the singular."

"What is with that anyways?"

"Tri-neuralists try to improve themselves by separating their good and evil sides into different personalities, while everything else goes into a third. I guess that's his, I mean their, way of doing it."

"Just like we used to be one soul before we were born, but then split into three. I wonder how that came about."

"Lay off. I still want to know what happened last night."

"…What do you mean?"

"Guys?"

"You and Patty disappeared during the party, and she left our house around 1 a.m."

"You were awake for that? Wait. What am I saying? Of course you were awake."

"Boys?"

"What did you do with her?"

"We watched Saturday morning cartoons and drank root beer floats. Is that so wrong?"

"Brothers?"

"I swear. If you aren't telling the truth and did something else…"

"Get in line. Her sister Liz has first dibs. Besides, don't you often bring home girls?"

"Partners?"

"That's different and you know it! Watch your tongue, clown!"

"Watch your tone, little bro!"

"Hey! Blockheads!"

"WHAT?" What and DJ said, turning to their brother.

"If you two are done, I don't think we're facing a copycat at all. I think we're facing the original Croatoan, and furthermore, I don't think he is a human, witch, nor a pre-kishen." Moses paused as his brothers starred at him with disbelief. "And… I know where to find him."

* * *

SO. YOU ARE THE WITCH ERUKA FROG?

Eruka looked up at the wraith which was known as the Grim Reaper. She was in human form now. Crona, Maka, and Soul were with her in the death room, along with Spirit, and Lord Death himself. Eruka had always feared the Reaper, but now that she saw him up close, with his goofy appearance and cartoonish voice, she forgot what she was afraid of, and could confidently answer his question with an affirmative.

REAPER CHOP!

Oh yeah. THAT'S what she was afraid of.

OKAY. NOW THAT WE'VE GOTTEN THAT OUT OF THE WAY, WHY HAVE YOU COME HERE?

Eruka rubbed her hurt noggin. "I've… ow… I've come to beg forgiveness sir. All those bad things I've done… I only did them because Medusa had managed to put a bunch of snakes inside of me, and threatened to have them tear me apart from the inside out unless I did what she said." She got down on her knees. "I know you're not in the habit of pardoning witches, but if you could make an exception, I'd be most grateful."

WELL, I DON'T KNOW…

"If I may make a suggestion sir?" Crona said, "Seeing as Eruka is a witch, perhaps a pardon might be too much. However, she has already offered her services to me as an indentured servant. Why couldn't that job be her civil service punishment? I could act as her probation officer and keep her out of trouble."

Maka pulled her aside. "Crona are you sure about this? Having a witch nearby could be a big mistake. Even if she isn't working for anybody, her destructive witch nature could be a danger to us all. Including you."

"I realize this. I have confidence that Eruka can suppress that nature, and if she can't, I have confidence that I can deal with it. You should too."

"I do have confidence in you. I just think you are making a rash decision, that's all."

"You don't think I've already looked over all the risks?"

"What's gotten in to you lately?"

"You have. You still treat me like a child! I turned Ragnarok into a deathscythe, and you still act as if I was as weak as I was when we first met! You say you have confidence in me, yet to you, I'm still a plate of china! In case you haven't noticed, I've gotten stronger, and I'm tired of you treating me like I'm the same old Crona!"

Maka was speechless. Crona noticed everyone was now looking at her. "I… I'm sorry. I just…"

"No Crona. I'm sorry."

Crona looked at Maka. "You're right. I have been treating you like when we first met. It's just hard to accept this new you, but you are my friend so I will treat you with more respect, and support your decisions. Even if I disagree with those decisions, I will support them." Maka held out her arms, hoping for a hug. "We good?"

Crona looked at her for a second. "Yeah," she said as she hugged Maka, "we're good."

"Yo! Can we get back to the matter at hand?" Soul said, wanting to get on with the day.

AGREED. NOW, AS FOR YOU, ERUKA… Eruka gulped nervously. CRONA HAD A GOOD IDEA. I HAVE DECIDED TO GO WITH IT.

"Oh Lord Death, I beg you, please recon… wait. What? Really?"

YES REALLY. EVER SINCE CRONA BECAME A STUDENT HERE AGAIN, I HAVE BEEN MUCH LESS HARSH ON PEOPLE. HECK, BEFORE TODAY AND THE DAY BEFORE YESTERDAY, I HADN'T REAPER CHOPPED ANYBODY SINCE SOUL AND MAKA'S DEATHSCYTHE CEREMONY.

"I remember that." Maka said, "Papa was being an idiot and Lord Death reaper chopped him. I Maka chopped him right after that, and then DJ DJ chopped him for good measure." Maka sighed with nostalgia. "Good Times."

_You don't have to look so happy about that memory._ Spirit thought to himself.

NOW, THERE IS THE PROBLEM OF WHERE YOU ARE GOING TO STAY. THE STUDENTS MIGHT GET NERVOUS HAVING A WITCH LIVING IN THE SCHOOL.

Everybody looked at Maka.

"Oh no!" she said, snapping out of her nostalgic trance, "I draw the line at having a frog witch in my house!"

"I have to agree with Maka on this one." Soul said, "We already have one annoying magical animal in the house."

"Oh please let me stay at your house!" Eruka said, latching on to Maka's leg, "I won't cause a mess! You won't even notice I'm here! I'll just sleep on the couch! No! Better yet, I'll sleep in an aquarium! Oh please, please, PLEASE let me stay at your house!"

Eruka made her best Bambi eyes. Maka looked over at Crona. "It would be easier to keep an eye on her." Crona said.

"….All right."

"Yay!" Eruka got up and did a victory jig.

"Wait!" Soul said, "Don't I get a say in this?"

"Sorry shark boy, but you've been out voted by the other two-thirds of the-Erk!"

Maka grabbed Eruka and pulled her in close. "Just remember, witch," Maka said, "If you hurt any of my friends, or betray us in any way, I will Maka chop you so hard that you shatter into a million pieces."

Eruka wriggled out of Maka's grasp and crawled away from her, only to encounter Spirit.

"That goes double for me." he said, "And if Maka is hurt or betrayed by you, I will also eat those pieces, and your soul, for breakfast."

Eruka was caught between the killer of Asura and her father. She had never been more frightened in her life.

…MOVING ON, Lord Death said, breaking the tension, MAY I ASK WHY YOU HAVE THREE ARMS CRONA?

Crona had forgotten all about that.

* * *

Moses got out of his brother's craft. They had landed on a beach. Moses looked around. "Hatteras Island." he said, "The blue marlin capital of the world. One of the longest islands in the contiguous United States. Historically known as Croatoan Island."

Moses "sensed out" the area around him like a psychic as his brothers stepped on to the sand.

"Uh… Moses what are you…"

"Shh. I'm listening to the elements."

After a while, Moses suddenly moved towards the sand bank that separated the beach from the tourist hotels.

"Would you care to share with the rest of the team what's going on?" DJ asked, "What did you mean the original Croatoan? And what is he? And why are we here?"

Moses answered the question, but continued examining the sand bank. "The first, and most widely excepted hypothesis about the lost colony of Roanoke, is that they went to Croatoan island, lacking supplies. In 1590, John White finally got the supplies to Roanoke, only to find no one there. Seeing no sign of foul play, and the word Croatoan, he assumed that they moved to Croatoan Island. This island. The hypothesis was never proven since a storm was coming and White's crew didn't want to tempt fate so they went back to England."

"Let me guess. You don't think that that's what happened."

"There are a few things wrong with the story." Moses looked closely at one area of the bank. "If the colony was in trouble, the plan was to carve a cross somewhere for White to see. The lack of a cross, made White conclude that the colonists had left of their own accord. It never occurred to them that they might have been taken before they had a chance to carve a cross on a tree. There has been evidence that the tribe of Native Americans that lived on this island had integrated themselves, genetically, with European settlers, but there is no way to tell if this is from the Roanoke colonists, or the colonists that had settled on THIS island. Furthermore, the lack of a cross and the word croatoan were the only evidence White had to support that conviction, and even those clues are sketchy. I think that the colonists did come here, but not of their own accord, and too fast for them to send a warning."

"Even if that is true, and I'm not saying it is just yet, who took them?"

Moses started digging a hole in the bank until he hit rock. "The name of the Native Americans in this area is Croatan. Their mythology often features some sort of monster that steals people. It was them who named this island. When settlers first landed here in 1586, they had asked the Croatan why the island was named Croatoan. The natives told them that the island was named after its master. The sailors thought that they meant that the chief, or Werowance, of the dominant tribe on the island was named Croatoan, but the natives said. 'No. The island is named after its master.' A monster that steals people and an island master whose name is at Roanoke. That makes for an interesting combination." Moses stood up. "Has anybody got a match?"

What pulled out a large box and lit and handed to Moses a one-foot long match. DJ and Moses starred at the large match. "The last time I saw that match, it had apples growing on it." DJ commented. What handed him a piece of fruit. "Oh, you got the apples too, eh?" DJ threw the apple over his shoulder since he wasn't hungry.

Moses took the match and placed it near the hole he just dug in the sand bank. "A 426 year-old monster." DJ said, "That sounds a little more like what we usually face. But you said it wasn't a pre-kishen."

"If I'm right," Moses said, "and I usually am about these things, we're facing a Makuta."

DJ starred at him in disbelief. "…Seriously?"

"Seriously."

"As in a Bionicle?"

"Yes."

"…DJ CHOP!"

Moses' head was the home of DJ's electric guitar for about two painful seconds. What laughed since it wasn't him who got chopped this time.

"What was that for?" Moses asked his brother.

"I figured it would jar your brain back into place. A Bionicle? That ancient civilization has been extinct for billions upon billions of years, if they even existed at all!"

Moses, seeing the smoke from the match get sucked into the hole, started looking around at the various rocks on top of the sand bank, above the hole. "Modern Bionicle theorists are still in debate over what happened to them. Some say that they escaped to another dimension or planet. My favorite hypothesis is that they never left, they simply went into hiding once they saw how the Homo sapiens were progressing. Either way, David's description of the kidnapper consisted with the description of a Makuta."

"You think he is from the Brotherhood of Makuta?" What asked.

"Doesn't seem like their MO, but I wouldn't doubt that he used to be one of the Brotherhood. Makuta have evolved so much that they live in a gaseous state that would disperse were it not for their full metal armor. That's what tipped me off. David described the kidnapper as being completely covered in armor. Even the best of knights and Bionicles had to have some uncovered part or else they couldn't breathe or move. Only the Makuta could get away with full armor."

"This is absolutely ridiculous!" DJ said, "What, back me up here."

"Actually, I agree with Moses."

"Huh?"

"Think about it. If this guy is not a member of the Brotherhood of Makuta, than he thinks he is better than them. If he thinks that, he must be arrogant. Arrogant enough to name an entire island after himself, and arrogant enough to sign his crime scenes. I get the feeling that Moses is right and we will find a Makuta named Croatoan in there."

"….perhaps you didn't hear me the first time. Huh?"

"Thank you for your support What." Moses said.

"You're welcome Moses." What replied.

DJ looked between the two. "There is something seriously wrong here." he said, "Look. I know that we are wasting our time on this theory because I've been using my soul perception on that bank and you know what I've found? Nothing!"

"First of all," Moses said, "This was a hypothesis, not a theory. A theory is an idea that has been proven right over and over and over again. Second of all, if there was nothing in the bank," he pushed down on a rock, "how do you explain this?"

The sand bank lifted up to reveal a staircase traveling downward. DJ gawked at this development. "How…?"

Moses jumped off the sand bank, landing next to DJ in front of the staircase. "I heard the wind whistling from the bank but there didn't seem to be anything to whistle through." he said, "I had a feeling that there was a hidden door which was confirmed when the smoke from the match was carried by the wind through the door."

"And look!" What said, pointing to the wall, "Bionicle writing!"

"Quite right What. It says, 'For those who have found this place, come on down.'"

DJ recovered from his shock. "Okay. So you've proven that this is a secret Bionicle place. I still don't sense any souls down there."

"Well then, you won't mind going in with us." Moses and What started walking down the staircase.

"I don't think…"

"C'mon DJ." What said, "Indulge your brother's curiosity."

DJ looked between his two brothers. "All right! Fine!" he said. _I should-a left when What agreed with Moses._

At the bottom of the stairs was a door, with what appeared to be a keyboard on the left. They were completely underground now. "Before we go on," Moses said to DJ, "try to find souls now."

DJ tried and came up with nothing. "Not even our own souls?" Moses asked.

DJ's eyes widened in realization. He hadn't sensed his own, nor his brothers' souls. "What the hell is going on here?" he asked.

Moses moved over to the keyboard. "If I had to guess," he said, "most Bionicle structures are made out of a metal known as protodermis. Since this metal is unknown to us, we don't know anything about it. One of its properties could block soul perception. Let's see. C… R… O… A… T… O… A… N."

The door opened with the code that Moses punched into the keyboard. The brothers walked in to find rows of canisters large enough to hold a human being, the glass already frosted over. Moses examined one of the canisters. "A cryogenic holding chamber." he said, "More advanced than anything humans have ever produced. Handled recently by my guess."

Moses and What looked at DJ expectantly. "…ALL RIGHT!" he said, "All right! I admit Moses' hypothesis is feasible. I wash my hands of any doubt that I had."

"Then try this soap. We're having a special today."

"DJ chop!"

Moses tried to calm down DJ, and help What, his hurt brother. "Come on guys," he said, "if we keep fighting like this, we'll never get anywhere."

"No please. Let them keep fighting. I want to see how strong they are."

The brothers stopped everything. "…Please tell me you heard that too." DJ said.

"If not, I'm having another madness attack." What replied.

"Don't mind me. Pretend I'm not here. Just keep doing what you were doing."

The team looked around for the source of the voice, but could find none. "Yeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaa… no."

"No? Pity. I suppose I'll have to do it myself." A ten-foot tall metal creature with red eyes walked out of the shadows, carrying a large staff. "First, let me congratulate you on finding this place. I am Croatoan."

* * *

Stein examined Crona's third arm. It was strange. Crona could feel the arm as if it were a regular one, but it was definitely made of black blood. Crona looked at Eruka who was waiting beside her for the results. "Eruka, why don't you go back to the apartment and find a place to sleep?"

"Yes Lady Crona."

"And please don't call me that. Just Crona will do fine."

Eruka bowed and left the room.

"She would not be my first choice for a servant." Stein said.

"Not mine either. But she wanted a second chance so I gave it to her."

"Hmm." Stein turned the bolt in his head. "I don't think I could do that."

"Why not?" Crona asked, "You gave me one."

Stein continued his examination. When Crona came back to the school after the Kishen died, Stein tutored her in fighting and academics to help her catch up with the other students. He did this at the request of Marie, but he never told Crona that. He just never saw a need to.

Maka and Soul were waiting outside. They didn't wait inside because Eruka was in there, and they did not feel comfortable around Crona's new indentured servant. Besides, they figured if she tried anything, Stein would dissect her.

When Eruka passed them, she pretended not to notice them, and kept on walking. She was mad at them for not trusting her. A few steps away, however, she turned and said, "Look. I know you're cautious of me, since I am a witch, but make no mistake. I would never betray Crona. I have a lot of respect for her, especially for staying away from her mother and running away from here to prevent you, her friends, from being hurt. I could never do that. When I was working for Medusa, I would have told Crona to run as far as she could, if I thought that Medusa wouldn't hear me, find her, and kill us both. So yeah. I might destroy something. But I will not destroy Crona. Cross my heart, and hope to get reaper chopped."

With that, she left Maka and Soul on the bench, wondering where that came from.

* * *

The brothers starred at the Makuta before them. Croatoan stood ten feet tall. His left hand was simply five curved blades while the other one, the one holding the staff, was smaller. On his head was a mask that made him look like he was wearing a surgical mask. Two red eyes starred out from behind the mask, directly at the brothers that had found his lair.

"So. You're Croatoan." Moses said, breaking the ice.

"In the flesh." Croatoan replied, "That is, if I had any."

"A dropout from the Brotherhood, I presume."

"They didn't understand my work."

"Let me guess. You're a scientist whose 'work' turns normal creatures like the Roanoke colonists," Moses walked over to the nearest canister, "into this."

Moses wiped off the frost so that one could see the face of the person inside. DJ almost puked. What giggled.

"Indeed." Croatoan said with a chuckle, "How did you figure out I was a scientist?"

"You wanted to find out how strong we are. The only types of Makuta that would care about that are those who like to fight or those who like to study. Judging by your décor and your kidnapping methods, I would guess you are the latter."

If Croatoan had a visible mouth, he would have smiled. "Clever little human aren't you? You will make a wonderful test subject."

"Before you perform experiments on us, would you mind answering a few questions? As a last request?"

_Is he serious?_ DJ thought to himself.

Croatoan thought about it. "…All right. What do you want to know?

"What actually happened to the Bionicles?"

"One of the toa had a vision. A vision of human world dominance. The entire community of what you call 'Bionicles' moved to the backside of the sun, leaving the bad elements, like me, here, along with the humans. The idea was a tough love approach that allowed you to grow and learn, as a species, at your own pace."

"Okay. That's all I wanted to know."

"It is? Don't you want to know more about me?"

"I'm pretty sure I know everything already. Just stop me if I get something wrong. You were completely bored here until the Native Americans arrived. You started taking some of them and were going to use them in your experiments, but you were stopped by one of their heroes. You agreed to let them live in peace if they named themselves and the island after you. Am I right so far?"

"Actually, this hero you speak of was not a human and he called himself the Doctor. But please, go on."

"Eventually, you got bored again since animals don't provide enough of a challenge. Then, you found the Roanoke colony. Figuring the White men were fair game, you took them and left a clue for anyone smart enough to follow to find you so that you could take them too. Then, you started to perform your experiments. 100 people kept you occupied for some time. Am I right so far?"

"…Go on."

"After a while, you found yourself out of test subjects, so you decided to find more. You took less people at a time so that people had more of a chance to connect the dots and find you so that you could take them. You even went so far as to let a witness get by at one point. All because you wanted your test subjects to come to you like lambs to a slaughter. That is what I think. The question is… am I right?"

Croatoan starred at the clever loner. "You are right."

"Then you have told me all I needed to know. DJ? I wanna scream, and shout, and let 'em all out."

DJ understood what Moses meant and performed one of the few witch powers that he could do without his magic chant: sonic scream.

The scream not only stunned Croatoan, but it also shattered all the canisters, allowing the nightmarish experiments to roam free.

Moses and What got their hearing back quickly, being used to loud noises, and Croatoan recovered to find the Roanoke colonists surrounding him.

_Perfect._ Moses thought to himself, _Now that the colonists have been freed and have seen what Croatoan has turned them into, they'll blame him and attack him._

"No!" he said, "Impossible! I CAN'T BE DEFEATED BY HUMANS!" The colonists stopped moving towards him, and he started chuckling, dropping the act. "Ku ku ku. But seriously though." The colonists all turned to the confused brothers.

"Fools," he said triumphantly, "did you think that I would leave my experiments so vulnerable without having a method of control? I would have expected better of the great Moses Morrison."

Moses looked at him. "How do you know my name?"

"You and your brothers are quite the celebrities in the Bionicle world Lord Moses. Thank you for bringing out my toys. They will give me a much more efficient way to test your power." Croatoan's creatures started to move towards the trio.

"Well, plan A has failed." What said.

"Then we move to plan B." DJ replied, "Boys?"

With a word, Moses and What changed into their weapon forms: a white scimitar with a black edge for Moses, and a black scimitar with a white edge for What. Croatoan looked intrigued. Due to his isolation, he had never seen a meister or a demon weapon before.

DJ slashed What at the first creature. This particular colonist had been mutated so that his body was significantly softer than usual, and was killed easily. DJ saw a kishen egg float in the air where the creature once stood.

"No wonder plan A didn't work." DJ said, "Croatoan's experiments have turned them into pre-kishens."

"Give a man enough power, and he'll never look back." What said.

One of the creatures launched himself at the team. DJ dodged, letting the creature crash into the back wall. The wall collapsed to reveal dozens of people, unconscious and trapped in an electrical field.

Moses' face flashed in the white blade. "The kidnapped people."

"Indeed." Croatoan said, "I like to have at least 100 test subjects before I begin an experiment. You get more accurate results that way."

"You're sick." DJ said, and then Croatoan's experiments attacked.

DJ's fighting style with his brothers greatly resembled that of a praying mantis due to both swords being held upside down. The creatures' attacks varied greatly from the basic punching and kicking, to the more complex stacking one on top of another to make themselves bigger. About half of them had superpowers, from laser vision, to tougher skin. The latter lasted longer than the others, but DJ managed to bait them into walking through the disintegration ray of a different creature. Croatoan watched them with excitement.

Finally, the last of the creatures was sliced into bits. DJ was tired, and Croatoan could tell due to DJ's heavy breathing. What loved plan B.

Croatoan started clapping. "Well done. I didn't expect you to last this long. Any more attackers and I'm sure you would have died."

"You kidding?" DJ said, "That was just a warm-up for me."

"I beg to differ. My mask allows me to see the power level of living things and frankly, your power level is barely over normal."

"Then what was the point of testing our strength if you could just see our power level when we walked in?" What asked.

"I had to see how long you could keep that power level, didn't I"

"You're not going to mourn your fallen experiments?" Moses asked.

"Why should I?" Croatoan replied, "I've already documented the results of that experiment. But you! I've never seen people who could turn into weapons before! Forget waiting for more of you! I'm going to start this experiment right now!"

Croatoan held out his staff. "You never asked me what my experiments entailed. I spray the subject with energized protodermis and watch how it mutates. The cryogenic chambers slow down the mutation so that I can watch every detail. I wonder if the results will be different when you are in weapon form."

"This is bad DJ." Moses said, "Energized protodermis is so mutagenic that it can bring simple boulders to life, yet so random that it can turn a flea into a dinosaur. We better be extra careful. DJ?"

Moses looked at his meister. DJ was smiling. "He's never seen meisters or weapons before." Moses understood. "That means, he doesn't know what we can do." What smiled.

"LET'S GO! SOUL RESONANCE!"

Croatoan starred at them, but then his mask registered their power level. _Impossible!_ he thought, _Their power level is increasing exponentially!_

Alone, the brothers' souls were powerful enough, but when they resonate with each other the results are astounding. It helped that the bond between brothers tripled their connection and made resonance easier. Unbeknownst to Croatoan, his mask actually measured soul wavelengths, but he thought it was a power level. He was shocked by what he saw. When they came in, Moses and What's power levels were 300 and DJ's was 600, but now…

_7,000…_

_8,000…_

Croatoan's mask shattered, its limit exceeded. "IT'S OVER 9,000!"

In a fit of desperation, Croatoan tried to shoot energized protodermis out of his staff at them, but DJ sliced the shooting mechanism off of the staff before he got the chance.

"No!" Croatoan tried to shoot them with his laser beams but DJ jumped and dodged it.

"We better finish this quickly." Moses said, "He's got plenty more powers where that came from."

"Got it." DJ replied.

"Yin Sword!" Moses' blade extended and glowed pure white.

"Yang Sword!" What's blade extended and glowed pure black.

"YING-YANG SLASH!" DJ brought both blades down on Croatoan in an X-shape. The attack disrupted Croatoan's soul and incapacitated him.

He collapsed in a heap and Moses and What transformed back into their human forms.

"Look!" What said, "The electrical field around the prisoners is vanishing! They're waking up!"

"The field was just another one of Croatoan's powers." Moses explained, "When his soul was disrupted, he no longer had the power to keep the field up."

The kidnapped children were starting to cry. "Hey What," Moses said, "do you think you can calm those children down?"

"Huh? Oh… sure." What walked over to the children. "Hey kids! Wanna hear a joke?"

DJ looked at the Makuta, then back at Moses. "Well Moses, you're the moral authority around here. Should we kill him?"

"A psychopathic scientist who likes to make his experiments suffer? Be my guest DJ."

"Gotcha. _Music, Muzak, Mesmerize._"

With a muttering of his magic chant, two eighth notes appeared in DJ's hand which he hung in Croatoan's eye slots.

"Please…." Croatoan said with his last bit of strength, "Please pro… protect my…. my… Virg-" he never got any farther than that, for at that moment the eighth notes made his head explode with two short E sounds.

"DJ! I wanted to hear what he was going to say!"

"It's not my fault. Those were timed notes."

As if on cue, the two brothers heard joyous laughter from behind them. They turned around to see What making the children laugh their hearts out. "Ho ho… and then… hee… then I said… haha… I said, 'There is no way you're fitting that whole thing into your mouth!'" The kidnapped grown-ups looked at them as if they were crazy.

The misty body of the Makuta floated up out of the breached armor and dispersed. If you've never seen a Makuta dispersing, imagine it starting out a sickly green color. Then, it would burst into a menagerie of vivid colors that would make Matisse jealous. Finally, it would burst into a display that looks something like a cross between fireworks, and the aurora borealis. The whole spectacle kept the people watching it mesmerized.

After all was said and done, Croatoan's soul rose up from the armor.

"…Moses?"

"Yes DJ?"

"A witch's soul is purple, right?"

"Right."

"And a kishen egg is red, correct?"

"Correct. And a regular soul is blue."

"What color would you call the soul in front of us?"

"…Teal."

"Which brings up a question."

"What's that?"

"What the hell are we supposed to do with a teal soul?!"

* * *

Maka unlocked the door to her apartment. She, Soul, and Crona had just gotten back from the DWMA. Maka had had a rough day. _Oh well,_ she thought to herself, _at least nothing else frustrating can happen today._

"Ha ha ha! He didn't really do that, did he Blair? Right through the bathroom window?"

"He sure did Eruka! I mean, if he wanted to take a bath with me, all he had to do was ask!"

Once again, the universe went out of its way to prove Maka wrong.

Blair and Eruka, the cat and the frog, were sitting at the table drinking tea and laughing together. None of the apartment's other inhabitants could believe their eyes.

"Blair!" Maka blurted out, "I can't believe you're being friendly to her!"

"I can't believe you're drinking tea." Soul said, "Don't you live off of milk and beer?"

"Maka chop!"

"Calm down Maka," Blair said, "I simply sat down and got to know her a little better. Did you know she's never had a boyfriend before?"

"Blair!" Eruka said, blushing a little, "You don't need to tell them that!"

"Calm down Eruka. Maka has never had one either. Besides, if Maka would just get over her silly prejudice against witches, she would find that out eventually."

"FIRST of all," Maka started, steam coming out of her ears, "the reason I've never had a boyfriend is because I'm waiting for the right guy. And SECOND of all, I AM NOT PREJUDICED!"

"Um, actually…"

"SHUT UP SOUL! I took the news that Kim was a witch calmly, didn't I?"

"That was because you've known her for a long time, and you know it!"

"Watch it Kitty Cat, or I'll…"

"Hey! C'mon!" Eruka hurriedly said, "Why don't we all sit down, and talk this over with a nice cup of tea?"

"I'M NOT IN THE MOOD FOR TEA!"

"I did it!"

Everybody looked at Crona. "I did it!" she exclaimed again, "I figured out how to retract and extend my third arm! Check it out! No third arm, third arm! No third arm, third arm! It's all mental!"

"Crona, that's great!"

"Awesome!"

"I'm so proud of you Crona!"

"Nice! Now you can use it whenever you want and not be embarrassed by it!"

And so, as Crona extended and retracted her black blood arm, waking up a grumpy Ragnarok in the process, peace was restored in the place that Crona called home, with the people she called her family. At least, until Ragnarok woke up.

* * *

"Mira!"

"Daddy!"

Mira ran into David Austin's arms. "We thought we'd never see you again!" the priest sobbed, "Were you scarred?"

"We were. At first. Then Mr. What told us a funny joke and made us feel all better."

The priest looked at the brother of his lord. "Thank you." he said.

"Ahhh… forget about it." What responded. _At least he's not giving me the evil eye anymore._

The brothers three had already delivered the rest of the kidnapped kids and grown-ups back to their families. This was the last stop. "And thank you Lord Moses." David said, "How can we ever repay you for what you have done for us?"

Moses held out a small metal box. "Simply get this to Stephan Hawking. He'll figure out something to do with it, I'm sure. But be careful with it, okay?"

"Yes our lord." David paused for a moment. "Lord Moses, if it's not to much trouble, who did end up being the kidnapper?"

"The kidnapper was a Makuta named Croatoan."

David looked up. "A Makuta?"

"Yes."

"Then that means…"

"Indeed. The Bionicles are, in fact, real."

"…YAHOO! I KNEW IT! Um, I mean, that is good news Lord Moses."

"Indeed. When you deliver that proof to Stephan, tell him that he can find the Bionicles on the far side of the sun."

"Yes sir! With pleasure sir!"

Moses smiled as he watched David rush in to their church with Mira, ready to make dinner. Moses then looked up at the setting sun. _I'll be seeing you Bionicles soon._

The team walked back to _The Walrus_ to go home. "It was nice of you to send Hawking samples of protodermis and energized protodermis." DJ said.

"Well, I did keep plenty for my own research, but I figured he would be the best person to get the message out to the scientific community." Moses replied.

"Don't be so modest. You convinced me of the existence of Bionicles."

"And for that I shall sleep soundly tonight."

"I still don't know what we're going to do with Croatoan's soul, although I suppose Stein could run some tests on it."

What smiled. "You know what? I feel good today."

"You better feel good after eating 49 kishen eggs." DJ teased.

"Yep! 49 for me, 50 for Moses, putting us both at 83 kishen eggs consumed, and on the fast track to becoming deathscythes! You bet I feel good!"

Moses suddenly stopped. "Guys," he said nervously, "49 plus 50 is 99. Between me and What we ate 99 kishen eggs. But there were 100 people at the Roanoke colony with the birth of…" Moses' breath hitched. "…Virginia Dare. Croatoan's last words. What if he was trying to say…"

"'Protect my Virginia.'" DJ finished.

A quick island hop back to Croatoan's laboratory, and the brothers found a disturbing sight: a hidden cryogenic chamber with the label 'Virginia Dare: Witch.'

It was open.

Virginia was gone.

* * *

On the other side of the island, a girl with hair as white as snow wandered the beach holding an apple that she found on the beach. She wore nothing, and had the mental capacity of a baby, but she had one name on her lips.

"Dee… Dee… DeeJay."


	7. Episode 4

_The soul of the Makuta Croatoan. Initial reports have been confirmed. It is in fact teal. Wavelength is unlike any other seen before. Resonation with this soul has proved to be unsuccessful. I can only assume that it is because of the unfamiliarity of the species. It is a shame that Moses could not contain the Makuta before he dispersed. Oh well. I can work around it._

Stein cranked the large bolt in his head.

_After all, adaptability is my greatest strength._

_Click…Click…Click…__**Clack!**_

* * *

**Episode 4-Shades of the Soul! What Makes a Monster?**

* * *

Stein continued his work on the Makuta soul. It has been a week since the soul was first brought to him in the hope that he might be able to figure out more about it. He had studied every piece of lore on Bionicles and Makuta, even going so far as to read _Bionicle Tri-neuralism_, the book written by the person who brought him this soul in the first place, which first puts forth the idea of Bionicles. How that idea gave rise to Bionicle theorists, Stein had no idea. He had a feeling that it had something to do with the Lego Company.

Stein had read every theory, every idea, every report about the Bionicles that he could get his hands on. He single handedly became a Bionicle expert practically overnight. He was still no closer to unlocking the secrets of Croatoan's soul than he was a week ago.

This time, he was going to encase the soul in protodermis and then try to resonate with it. As he started to encase the soul, a dark figure crept up behind him. The dark lighting of Stein's laboratory left the figure nothing more than a shroud. The shroud reached out its hands to grab Stein from behind.

"Are you trying to sneak up on me again Marie?"

The shroud leapt back, not expecting the recognition. Stein turned on the lights.

"Dang it Franken Stein!" Marie exclaimed, "How did you do that?"

Stein smiled. "It's true that the protodermis in the room prevented me from using my soul perception, but I have learnt to recognize the soft sound of your feet shuffling across the floor."

"And I thought you would be too wrapped up in your work to… Wait a minute! You actually took the time to memorize the sound of my feet?"

"It's worth it to see the look on your face every time you fail! Ha ha ha!"

Marie watched Stein laugh his heart out at her expense. They had known each other ever since their school days at the DWMA when she had had a small crush on Stein, and they had been living together for more than a year. She couldn't help but laugh along with him.

Finally the laughter died down. "So. How did your date with Joe go?" Stein asked.

"It was not a date. It was just two exes getting together for dinner."

"Uh-huh. Where was dinner?"

"…Olive Garden."

"Yep. It was a date. How did it go?"

Marie sighed. "It was NOT a date. And if you must know, he only came into town for a few days and was going to go back to Oceana tomorrow. He wanted me to go with him."

"Did you accept?"

"Do I look like I'm packing my bags?"

"Maybe you should." Stein turned back to his desk.

"Stein…"

"I know, I know. You love teaching here and wouldn't give it up for the world. I understand that. I'm just saying you should find some way to get away from me."

"You? Why?"

"I've been observing you. You've been unusually tired lately. Most people would think that it would stem from your teaching position, but I know better. You're tired of me. It makes perfect sense. You are always the one who feeds me, who takes care of me, who suppresses my madness. It's only natural that you would reach a physical limit after a year. The only logical solution is to remove the burden, namely me, before you waver and I snap. Who knows what I would do then. I'm a dangerous man Marie, and you deserve what you've always wanted: a husband, kids. I would get in the way of that ideal life. You should…"

Stein was cut off by Marie's arms around him. "If I wanted to leave," she said tenderly, "I would have already. But if I did leave, no-one would take care of you. You're my friend and partner Stein, I can handle any burden you think you give me. I assure you that the tiredness is just the late nights grading tests. Besides, living with you has taught me that life is never ideal."

"Oh sure. That makes me feel a lot better."

Both of them laughed again.

"Well," Marie said, "I better get dinner ready."

"More of the famous 'Marie Mac and Cheese,' courtesy of Craft?"

"Har har. At least I cook."

"Hey! I cook."

"Laboratory experiments don't count."

Stein watched Marie as she walked into the kitchen, which was a new addition to the house when she moved in. When Marie first became Stein's full time partner, he wasn't too fond of the changes she brought to his life. Now he lo… now he tolerated them.

Stein turned back to his work. _…Where is the Makuta soul?_

The lights suddenly went out, and Stein could see light coming from two things in the room: the computer on his desk… and the Makuta soul. He turned around and saw the soul floating in the air. "Looking for this?" a voiced asked from nowhere. A voice that Stein recognized.

Stein tried to get up, but he was pinned to his chair from behind by a woman with long blood-red hair. "Long time no see Frankie." she said as she held his arms to his sides and one hand to his mouth. He couldn't call for help anyways, the laboratory walls were soundproof (Marie couldn't sleep with the screams of agony coming from Stein's occasional dissection subject).

Stein pushed his wheelie chair into his desk with his feet, knocking the wind out of the woman behind him, and making her loosen her grip. Stein shot forward in his chair out of the red-haired woman's grip, and right into an invisible object, sending it flying into the back wall and making it let go of the Makuta soul.

Stein retreated to the door with the soul, only to find the door locked. He turned back to his attackers, to see rolls of gauze wrap around an unseen figure. The gauze stopped suddenly, forming the outline of a man and a pair of red glasses flew out of the woman's pocket and onto the head of the gauze figure.

"You're going to pay for that Frankie." a voice said from within the gauze.

"Stop!"

A man with a black suit and a long blood-red cape stepped out of the shadows behind his two companions. "It has been a long time Franken." the figure said.

Stein looked over his opponents. "Count Vladimir Dracul and your mistress Elizabeth. Bloodsuckers, the both of you. Not long enough."

"_Countess_ Elizabeth to you Frankie." the red-headed woman said, "We tied the knot a couple years ago. And we prefer vampires now. It's much more fashionable to be called vampires ever since the _Twilight_ series came out."

"Still running with your old lackey though." Stein said challengingly, "H. G. Griffin. Better known by his Nome-de-plume 'The Invisible Man.'"

"Watch it Stein," the Invisible Man growled, "if it weren't for the count, you would be chopped liver right now."

Dracul gave the Invisible Man a glare. The Invisible Man backed down. "We're not here to fight." the count said, "We want your help Franken."

"My help?"

"Surly you haven't forgotten our moral support of you back when you retired from the DWMA, did you? We provided you with fresh bodies to dissect, new experiments to try, we kept you out of the mediocrity of a retired life."

"Right. And all you asked for in return was plenty of blood."

"It was a symbiotic existence. You were one of us. One of the Monsters."

"I was never one of the Monsters. I never did like that name anyways. What kind of name for a gang is 'The Monsters'?"

"I know you did not approve of our actions. Few people approve of extortion and robbery. However, you have my personal guaranty that this is the last time we shall ask anything of you. After this, we shall leave your life for good."

Stein thought for a moment. He got up from his chair, walked over to his desk, and lit a cigarette. Nobody moved to stop him.

Stein blew a puff of smoke into the air from his cigarette, making a smoke skull.

"You have two minutes." Dracul smiled.

"The job is simple. You happen to be in a perfect place to execute it. You see, as you know, I am a connoisseur of rare blood types. In my time, I've tasted A-positive, O-negative, every type of blood, save one. One that the DWMA happens to have an abundance of."

"Black blood." Stein said quietly.

"Precisely." Dracul replied, "There are three choices on where to get it: the sword meister Crona, the deathscythe Soul, and the scimitar What. To make things simple, we simply want your help in acquiring Soul and his partner Maka."

"Why both of them? Maka doesn't have any black blood."

"True," the countess said, grinning, "but she does have a virgin's blood, and as you know, it's that virgin blood that gives me my youthful appearance."

"You're sick." Stein said with disdain, "But I suppose I'm the pot calling a kettle black."

Stein put out his cigarette. "Just one question." Stein said, "What makes you think I would even consider helping you bring harm to my students?"

"Excuse me?"

"C'mon. The times we had together were fun, but I left for a reason. Despite all the fun I was having, I didn't have a purpose. A couple years after that, I became a teacher, and guess what I found. Purpose. It's one of the few things that I can't explain scientifically, but I feel like I belong here. Heck, I've ven learnt how to feel. So thank you."

"THANK me?" The count was getting irritated.

"Yes. Thank you. If I never joined you, I would have never had to want something else in life, nor would I have even considered rejoining the DWMA. Since I am part of the DWMA, I can't let you harm Soul or Maka."

"You won't have a choice!" the Invisible Man said, "We know all about how you were created Stein! If you don't help us, we'll…"

"You'll what?" Stein asked, "Tell on me? Get me fired? Lord Death already knows. The kids already have one science experiment for a teacher, they won't mind another."

Dracul's fists clenched. "I wanted to do this as peacefully as possible. I wanted to give you the choice of having them die as painlessly as possible because I respected you. Now, it's going to be messy. We're getting Maka and Soul tomorrow. With, or without you're help."

Stein grinned. "Not if I stop you here and now. I've always wanted to dissect a vampire."

"You may be the most powerful meister at the DWMA," the countess said, sticking her finger in his face, "but you can never face all of us in a fair fight."

"Who said anything about fair?"

Stein grabbed a glass of hydroxide and threw it in Elizabeth's face, temporarily blinding her. The Invisible Man lunged forward, only to be driven into the door by Stein's soul wavelength. Dracul and Elizabeth attacked, but Stein pressed the F9 button on his keyboard, making his computer screen flash a short, but bright light, stunning the vampires.

"You think I haven't been preparing for the possibility that you might try to come back into my life?" Stein said, gloating, "I made sure that I have a home field advantage. Now I…"

"Stein? The door is unlocked now. I don't know why it was locked in the first place, but I'm coming in to find…"

Marie stopped in her tracks. A second passed before the Invisible Man sent the two ends of his gauze outfit to wrap around her like snakes and pull her towards him.

"NO!" Stein yelled.

"Not a step closer." the Invisible Man said, putting a scalpel that Stein had left laying around to Marie's neck, "Unless you don't mind your friend being beheaded."

Dracul recovered from his stunned state. "Well, well, well." Dracul said, "Now you find out the one fatal problem with learning how to feel: those feelings can get in the way. I think I want to take some compensation from you."

Dracul took the Makuta soul out of Stein's hand. "This should do nicely." Stein made no move to stop him, knowing that Marie's life was at stake.

"Come my friends," Dracul said, "Let us take our leave." The countess got up and moved towards the door. The invisible man did the same.

"When you can get Maka and Soul," Dracul said before leaving, "take them to the abandoned warehouse on Valkarie St. If you don't come by sundown, your friend will pay the price. If you tell anyone, we'll know."

"…You're a monster."

"And what makes a monster Franken? Unspeakable acts of violence? The taking of innocent lives? By that logic, you're as much a monster as I am."

* * *

Kid and Liz dragged Patty to the door of Marie's classroom. Everyone else was already inside. They said they wanted to have a talk.

"So… how are you and What doing?" Liz asked awkwardly.

"Why do you ask?"

"No reason… no reason… well actually, there is a reason."

"And that reason is…." Patty was starting to wonder what this was about.

"…Kid, you take over."

"Wait a m…" Liz elbowed him in the chest. "Oof! Uh, Patty. Me and Liz… that is to say, Liz and I… have noticed that you and What have been… y'know… hanging out more together lately and…"

"And…?" Neither Kid nor Liz knew how to have this talk.

"…Liz, it's your turn." Kid retreated a few steps before she could hit him.

"Well… we feel…" Liz felt intimidated by her sister. "We feel that this is a good time to… to tell you that… me and Kid… Kid and I…" Liz inhaled deeply. "areinarelationship."

"I know."

"YOU WHAT?!"

Patty smiled. "Of course I know. Everybody knows. Even Black Star knows, and he's an idiot."

"Are you kiding me?" Kid asked, exasperated.

"Well, it wasn't that hard to figure out. Ever since that time in Paris, you two have been touching each other tenderly. Heck, when we resonate, I can feel the bond between you guys as being much stronger than that between me and Kid."

_So much for keeping it a secret._ Liz thought to herself.

Kid cleared his throat. "Right…" he said, "anyways, coupled with this announcement, we have decided, since you seem to be so involved with What, to have 'The Talk' with you."

"'The Talk?' Who has that anymore?"

Kid smirked at Liz triumphantly.

"Look guys," Patty started, "you wanted to know how I and What are doing, right?" Kid and Liz nodded.

"Well, I can assure you guys that we haven't been doing it, but when we do, I'll know what to do. I was born in Brooklyn after all."

Patty skipped into class leaving a shocked Kid and Liz outside the door.

"By the way," Patty said, poking her head through the door, "when you guys have a kid, I call dibs on naming him."

* * *

Kid and Liz walked into the classroom. Kid flopped into his seat between Soul and DJ and banged his head down onto his desk.

"Bad day Kid?" DJ asked.

"Guys, did everyone really know about Liz and me?" Kid said without raising his head.

"Yup." Soul said, "Maka was the last to know. I had to explain it to her." Kid groaned.

"Where's the teacher?" Kid asked. He wanted to get through the day quickly, and without any other nasty surprises.

The classroom door slammed open, and there stood Stein. "Class, Ms. Marie won't be here today, so I'm the substitute."

Crona raised her hand. "Professor Stein? Is Ms. Marie all right?"

Stein looked at Marie's desk. For a long time he didn't say anything.

"…She's fine." he said finally, "She just needed some rest, that's all, so she took the day off."

Stein sat down at Marie's desk, when he realized something. He had no idea what Marie taught.

_Calm down Stein,_ he thought to himself, _just coax the subject out of the students, and they'll never know._

Stein cranked the screw in his head. He had to be confident here. "Okay class, who can remember yesterday's lesson?"

Maka raised her hand. "We discussed conservation of mass yesterday Professor Stein." she said.

_Conservation of mass. Okay. That's Chemistry material. I can handle Chemistry._ Stein turned to the chalkboard. "Okay then class, today we will discuss moles."

"Moles? For a Soul Wavelength Theory class?"

* * *

Stein was having a bad day. His roommate was Kidnapped by his old gang, his dissection experiment got away from him, and nobody made coffee this morning. To make matters worse, he just taught a class that he'd flunked as a Kid so many times before. _Too much speculation, not enough hard facts._ he thought to himself, _At least I managed to make it through the period with my dignity intact._

Stein was eating lunch in his office. Perhaps the worst thing he had to do today was to deliver Maka and Soul to Dracul. The count had said to him not to tell anyone. Stein knew that the Invisible Man could watch his every move since Stein couldn't find his soul with his soul perception. Stein thought about how Marie would never look at him the same way again after he turned his own students over to monsters. He thought about how his best friend, Spirit, would act when he found out that his little girl was to be eaten by a vampire.

_That's it! That's the way out of this!_ Stein quickly, but inconspicuously, got up from his desk and looked for Spirit. He found him walking out of the cafeteria. Stein walked towards him.

"Hey Stein, how's it going?" Spirit asked. Stein didn't answer, but he did bump Spirit as they passed by. A passerby couldn't have guessed that in that one moment, Stein resonated his soul with Spirit's. Spirit tried to stay cool, but inside he was worried about what Stein told him in that one second.

_Don't worry Stein,_ he thought, _I can't be there myself without raising suspicion, but there is no way you're going to that warehouse without backup._

* * *

Stein walked down the street with Maka and Soul. School was over, and Stein wanted to get this over with as soon as possible. "Where exactly is this private training going to take place professor?" Maka asked.

"Somewhere out of the way." Stein replied.

"Why do we have to take this training anyways? We're at top form." Soul said.

"I know that. This training will help you stay that way."

"This is so un-cool."

Finally, the trio made it to the abandoned warehouse. Stein saw movement on the roof above, and hoped to god that Spirit understood his message. He, Maka, and Soul walked into the warehouse.

Maka looked around. It was dark. "When you say 'out of the way' professor, you mean it." Suddenly, the door slammed behind them and the shutters on the widows closed.

"I'm sorry." Stein said.

An instant later, two gauze tentacles wrapped around Soul and dragged him into the shadows. A dark figure pounced on Maka faster than a panther. Stein was left alone in the darkness.

"Lights!"

Spotlights lit up the warehouse from all sides, revealing Maka and Soul trapped in Elizabeth and the Invisible Man's clutches. Dracul stood between them holding a very scarred Marie.

"Well done Stein!" Dracul complimented, "These two look like feasts fit for a vampire king! Griffin has been watching you all day. How did he do Griffin? Did he earn his prize?"

"Well, he didn't blab." the Invisible Man said, "I guess that counts for something."

"You've got your quarries." Stein said with disgust, "Now hand over Marie."

"Of course. The little lady is all yours." Dracul pushed Marie forward into Stein's arms.

"Oh Franken…" Marie said with tears in her eyes, "How could you? How could you give away your students like that?"

"Everything's going to be all right." Stein slipped something into Marie's pocket.

"How touching. Well Franken, it's been a pleasure as always." Dracul said, turning to leave, "Have a monstrous life."

"Wait a moment."

Dracul turned around. "You still have something of mine." Stein said.

Dracul smiled. "You mean the teal soul? Forget it. I'm keeping it as interest, since you declined the first offer."

"That soul represents a major scientific discovery!" Stein said, still holding Marie, "You can't just…"

"Temper, temper Stein." the countess teased, "We wouldn't want to make these kids' predicament any more painful than we have to, do we?"

"When we get out of this lady," Maka yelled, "me and Soul are going to kick your butt!"

"Mpf! Mm-mpf-mm!" said Soul. His mouth was wrapped up in the Invisible Man's bandages.

"You're in no position to make threats scythe-boy." the Invisible Man giggled, "I think I'll break a bone for that disrespect."

The Invisible Man raised Soul above his head and tightened his grip on Soul's leg when…

BANG!

A single soul wavelength shot tore through the gauze holding Soul in the air. Soul fell to the ground, transforming his hand into a blade on the way down and cutting himself free.

BANG!

Another shot hit the countess in the head making her let go of Maka. "Damn it!" she cried, "Where are those coming from?"

Dracul looked up and saw two holes where there was once shutter. The shots came from outside.

* * *

"Nice shot Mifune!" Angela squealed.

"Nice of Stein to call us from his cell phone." Mifune said.

"Agreed." said his crossbow-gun Azusa, "Although, for some reason I resonated with Marie instead. I guess Stein slipped the phone into her pocket so that he could buy time."

"Now that we've revealed ourselves," Mifune said, standing up, "the element of surprise is gone. We're going to have to get up close and personal. Angela, stay here."

"Aw, come on Mifune!" Angela said, "I can help! I've been practicing a new spell!"

"It's too dangerous."

"Why the heck did you bring me then?"

"I couldn't well have let you walk home from the DWMA by yourself, now could I? What if you had gotten lost?"

"Oh, you worry too much!"

Azusa smiled. She has been partnered with Mifune for a year now, and she still couldn't quite get used to his young ward, Angela.

Mifune put Azusa on his back and leapt into action, leaving a sulking Angela on the roof.

* * *

"You told me he didn't tell any one!" Dracul said furiously, holding the Invisible Man by the neck.

"Don't take it out on him." Stein said, smiling, "I resonated with Spirit for a fraction of a second. Just long enough to tell him the situation and ask for him to send one of our top meisters. I could only guess who he would send, but I think I guessed right. Don't blame Griffy. Even he couldn't see that." Dracul dropped his minion.

"You… you really did that Franken?" Marie asked, relieved that Stein wasn't as bad as she thought.

"Of course I did." Stein answered, "If I didn't, I'd be sending Maka and Soul off to die. If I did that, you'd never look at me the same way."

"You're darn right I wouldn't."

"And here I thought I could trust you Stein. Fine. You want to play it that way?" Dracul barred his fangs. "Let's play."

Mifune crashed through the shuttered window and slammed right into Dracul's chest. "So you're a vampire." He said, standing over the count. "I thought you'd be taller."

"Count!" the Invisible Man yelled, "Countess! Your husband's in trouble!"

"You don't say!" the countess said as she dodged Maka's attack with Soul.

The Invisible Man tried to help his boss, only to get hammered back by a huge force. "I've been waiting a long time for this Griffy." Stein said, holding his partner Marie, now in hammer from.

"My name… is… the INVISIBLE MAN!"

* * *

Countess Elizabeth dodged attack after attack, keeping one step ahead of the raging meister that is known as Maka.

"Hold still so I can douse you in garlic!" Maka yelled. She was pissed.

"That's an old wives tale!" the countess yelled back.

"And I suppose you know all about those, don't you!"

_That does it!_ Elizabeth shot forward and hit Maka in the gut, slamming her against the wall.

"Damn it Maka," Soul said, his face flashing in his blade, "we're not going to last long if you keep flying in there half-cocked."

Maka looked at her opponent. "Yeah," she said, "You're right. I better tag out."

"You can't beat me girly!" the countess taunted, "I have the speed and strength of ten humans!"

"You're right. I can't beat you." Maka grinned. "But maybe Soul can."

With a flash of blue light, Soul turned back into his human form. In another flash of light, Maka turned into a scythe with a black and grey blade and what appeared to be a wing where the blade and the hilt met. Soul caught her in scythe form, spun her around a few times, and then struck a cool guy pose.

Countess Elizabeth was dumbfounded. "WHAT THE HELL?!"

Soul grinned a sharky grin. "What most people don't know about Maka is that when she was conceived, her mother had already turned her jerk of a father into a deathscythe by that point. The result was a natural born deathscythe."

"My weapon powers didn't come in until a year ago and even then they could only work when I was asleep." Maka said, "But since then, I've been training with Soul to improve them and make them just as strong as his."

"This makes us the perfect tag team at the DWMA, although we've never had a chance to field test them."

"Which makes this the perfect opportunity for us…"

"But the absolute worst time for you."

* * *

Dracul slashed at Mifune, only to have him sidestep the blow and back up.

"I will kill you! Then, I will hunt down your family and drink their blood!" Dracul growled. He'd had enough.

Mifune glared at the vampire. "Okay. Now it gets real." Mifune took off the two containers that seemed to hold countless katanas. "Infinite sword style!" He swung the two containers above his head, then he pulled them down sharply releasing its dangerous contents. The swords scattered around half the warehouse, and Mifune's police tape sprung to life, quarantining off that half from the other fighters.

He pulled a sword from the ground and pointed it at the count. "Just you and me."

Dracul lunged at Mifune. His claws were longer and sharper than most, but he was still unable to break Mifune's swords. Mifune countered Dracul's claws blow for blow, and, seeing an opening, moved faster than even a vampire eye could see to stab Dracul through the heart.

Mifune relaxed, but Dracul started laughing. "Fool," he said as he removed the sword from his body, "I am one of the Immortal Clan. I am the lord of the vampires. And frankly, your sword is no wooden stake."

"I've fought bounty hunters, Imacandi, and the man who will surpass God." Mifune said, "Compared to them, you're just a flying rodent."

"I'll make you eat those words!"

Dracul charged but Mifune pulled Azusa from his back and shot him square in the chest.

BANG!

Dracul was unharmed, but when he fell to the ground, his hand happened to hit a spot of sunlight that was coming through a hole made by Mifune's surprise attack. Dracul felt a sizzle, and pulled his hand back.

"Do you see what I see samurai?" Azusa said. Mifune understood.

Mifune started throwing all the swords he could reach at Dracul, only to have him dodge them all. When he ran out of swords, he started shooting wavelengths at the count, but this time he saw them coming so he dodged those too.

BANG!

BANG!

BANG!

"Is this the best the DWMA can offer?" Dracul laughed.

Mifune stopped shooting, smiled, and pointed behind Dracul. Dracul turned and saw that the thrown swords and wavelength shots had all hit the wall making a circle and creating a large weak point. Dracul turned back to Mifune, only to find himself starring down the barrel of Azusa.

"Good night."

BANG!

Mifune shot the count in the face, sending him crashing through the weak point in the wall and into the midday sunlight.

Dracul screamed in agony, and ran as fast as he could, not stopping until he made it to some shade.

"He got away." Azusa commented.

"Whatever." Mifune said, "At least next time he'll think twice before threatening my family."

* * *

Stein beat back the Invisible Man once more. "One more hit, and you're dead." Stein said, grinning, "Then, I'm going to turn you into a zombie and then kill you again. Don't worry. I'll make it a lot more painful the second time around."

_Well… at least it's good to see that Stein is feeling like himself._ Marie thought to herself.

"You'll have to find me first, Frankie."

Stein swung at the Invisible Man, but connected only with his gauze as it collapsed to the ground.

"Damn." Stein muttered.

"What's the problem?" Marie asked, "Can't you just use your soul perception?"

"His soul is shielded due to the electrical experiments that made him invisible. It's the same basic idea as Zodiac's soul shielding force field. This is a problem."

Behind them, one of Mifune's swords started to float. The Invisible Man, living up to his name, planned to cut Stein's head off.

"YA-HOO!"

Angela zoomed through the hole that Mifune crashed through on her broomstick and hit the Invisible Man in the head. She had recently perfected a spell that allowed her to see anything and anyone who was invisible, so she saw the Invisible Man even before he picked up the sword. Stein turned around to find Angela whacking the Invisible Man on the head with her broom.

"Ow! Ow! Ow! All right, that's it!" The Invisible Man grabbed Angela and lifted her up by the collar. "Now I'm going to…"

"Put Angela down." Mifune said, holding the end of his blade to the Invisible Man's neck.

* * *

Soul fought with Maka like a pro. Countess Elizabeth was caught off guard by the new fighting tactic, and soon found herself knocked on the floor.

"Time to finish this!" Soul said, "Let's go! Soul resonance!"

Energy began to swirl around Soul and Maka as their wavelengths bounced off each other as if in zero gravity. Maka's blade became crescent shaped, glowed red, and grew light-blue feathers.

"The legendary super move: WITCH HUNTER!" Soul smiled. "I've always wanted to say that. And now, I'll take your soul!"

"I don't think so!" the countess said, smiling.

"Oh yeah? What makes you think you've got a chance?"

"A little thing I like to call 'Home court advantage!'"

Countess Elizabeth pulled out a remote and pressed the button. Suddenly, the warehouse was full of beeping that was coming from the outside.

"Oh no." Azusa said, "The place is wired to explode!"

Soul looked at Azusa for a moment, but when he looked back, the countess was gone.

"Um, guys?" Angela said, "Where is the Invisible Man?"

Everybody looked around. "There! That door is moving!" Soul was closest, so he ran over to the door, only to have it slam in his face.

Maka turned back into human form and tried the door. "No good!" she said, "He locked the door behind him!"

"The place is going to come down any minute!"

" Everybody get close to me and Marie!" Stein yelled. Everybody complied. "Soul resonance!"

The bombs exploded all along the bottom of the outside, bringing the inside crashing down.

When the dust cleared, one large piece of the roof was blown off the staff and students of the DWMA. Stein and Marie's soul resonance had created an electrical field that had protected everyone from the blast and the building.

Everybody exhaled.

"Can we go home?" Angela asked.

Stein and Marie looked at each other and laughed.

* * *

For the Monster gang, their defeat was no laughing matter. Countess Elizabeth's clothes were ruined beyond repair, Count Dracul's sunburn still hadn't healed, and the Invisible Man really did need gauze thanks to that blast. The worst part, however, was yet to come.

The three of them had made it back to their headquarters in Transylvania: a large castle owned by the count. They stood in front of the lowest door of the castle, behind which their new employer took up residence.

"Okay," Dracul said finally, "I'll go in and tell her."

"What?" the countess exclaimed, "She'll kill you!"

"Maybe she'll be in a good mood."

A screech emanated from behind the door.

"There is no way I'm letting you go in alone!" The countess said, "I'm going too!"

"Me too." said the Invisible Man, "I can still walk."

"NO!" They were silent for a long while. "Listen." Dracul said, "Elizabeth, you are my wife. Griffin, you are my friend. I vowed when you joined my gang that I would not let you die. I will keep to that vow."

"Vlad…"

Dracul walked to the door and opened it. A wave of hot air hit them in the face.

"If I'm not back in one hour, run. I don't care where, just run. Griffin, take care of Elizabeth."

"Okay count."

"Elizabeth…"

Dracul was cut off by Elizabeth's lips against his.

"I love you, Count Vladimir Dracul."

"And I love you, Countess Elizabeth Dracul."

As Dracul entered the doorway and closed the door behind him, the Invisible Man put his hand on his face and muttered a solemn "Even in death, may you be triumphant."

Even a monster can care about someone.

* * *

Underneath the castle is a large system of caverns that span for miles. Dracul used to feel at home in caverns and caves. Now, he feels vulnerable. He enters a lit up section of the caves. Hundreds of bat eyes starred at him from above. In the middle of the cave is a throne. On the throne sits Dracul's employer. Dracul gets down on one knee before the throne.

"Well Count?" she speaks in a voice that is both alluring and frightening at the same time, "How did it go?"

"Well… my lady… what we have here… is a… good news bad news… type of situation." Dracul tried to find a quick route away but found his feet glued to the floor by her voice.

"Well… what's the good news?"

"The good news is that… Maka does appear to be a weapon as well as a meister. As you thought. And… we managed to cover up our true intentions for her."

"And the bad news?" Her voice sounded much more angry now.

"The bad news is… we don't…really… have her."

Dracul found himself being chocked to death by his boss: a tall woman with long-brown hair, a black dress, and a black cloak with a triangle pattern on the edge.

"You know how important she was to me and you let her get away?" The bats up ahead squealed and screeched with delight. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't drive a stake through your heart and leave you body for the sun."

Dracul was loosing air. Those in the immortal clan could never age and regenerate any wound, but they could not regenerate air for their lungs. Luckily, Dracul remembered the teal soul in his pocket, took it out, and gave it to the woman.

She looked at the soul with interest. _A Makuta soul!_ She took the soul from Dracul and released his neck.

"You and you gang have earned a second chance. To make sure you don't waste it, I suggest you start hiring some… fresh blood. I have a list of recommendations for you, but for now, return to your friends. Your wife is waiting for you."

Dracul, still gasping for breath, ran from the cave. The woman put the soul in a case. A bat flew down and brought her the gift of a dead spider, and a dead snake. She smiled.

_Watch out sisters._ she thought to herself, _The age of Medusa and Arachne are no more._

_The age of Psyren has just begun._

* * *

**Heidi-ho readers! It's me! Your favorite madman, What!**

**Since I wasn't in this episode, I thought I would pop out of the computer for a bit, and since I'm here, I thought I'd say a few things since Kishen Grim Camalot won't. It's an artistic thing, nothing against you readers.**

**1) Kishen Grim Camalot does not own Soul Eater. Or Bionicle. Or Doctor Who. Or any other thing that he has and/or will reference. Heck, he has a hard enough time owning me.**

**2) I know you are anxious to get to your next story, but please take the time to review. It will not only help you practice your typing, but also encourage the author to get these stories up faster. So, like it? Dislike it? Review and tell us why! Found a reference that you found particularly funny? Found one that is really obscure? Review and tell us which one! And if you have any criticisms about this story, write them in the box bellow and click review. We'll read every one. I promise. For what it's worth.**

**(Hey! Who's that on my computer?)**

**Oops! gotta go! One last thing. It might take a little while for Kishen Grim Camalot to review, but trust me. My brothers and I are not done with Soul Eater yet.**

**(What are you doing out of the story?)**

**Keep smiling!**

**(Get back here!)**


	8. short break

So, I just found the Bionicle section of this website, and I'm wondering if I should turn this into a crossover. Bionicles will become more important in the story, as will the Doctor. Please review and give me some advice, or just your opinion.


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